Egypt is counting on Arab nations to pressure Ethiopia to halt its “unilateral practices” over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said yesterday.

Egypt, along with other member states in the Arab League, sought to pursue greater diplomatic openness to Syria amid the humanitarian crisis that ensued following the February earthquake, said two sources who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

Having focused on attracting Gulf state investments around the Suez Canal, Cairo is now envisaging a gateway to the Old Continent at the Gargoub naval base on the Mediterranean, which is already enticing several would-be investors, especially in the energy domain.

Activist and former political prisoner Ramy Shaath has filed a complaint to the African Commission on Human Rights about the abuses inflicted by the Egyptian authorities on him and his French wife, Céline Lebrun-Shaath.

The European Union signed an agreement with Egypt on Sunday for the first phase of an 80 million-euro border management program, a statement from the EU delegation in Cairo said, at a time when Egyptian migration to Europe has been rising, reported Reuters.

Europe should be working with Middle East countries to incorporate them into a broader regional energy grid in order to transition to clean, renewable energies, a leading economist said on Tuesday.

Egypt’s foreign minister withdrew Tuesday from an Arab League session chaired by the chief diplomat of one of Libya’s two rival governments. The move was an apparent protest against her representing Libya at the pan-Arab summit. Egypt supports her administration’s rival.

MEP Hannah Neumann has called on the Egyptian government to release detained British-Egyptian citizen Alaa Abdelfattah and allow him to join his family in the UK.

Secretary General of the Cairo-based Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit recently criticized the way the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, has handled the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute pitting Egypt and Sudan against Ethiopia.

The European Union, Israel and Egypt signed a deal June 15 to boost the export of natural gas from Israel to Europe via Egypt.