CAIRO: Development projects launched by Egypt in South Sudan are a “model for cooperation,” Hani Sewilam, Egypt’s minister of water resources and irrigation, said on Wednesday.

Sewilam met Moatez Mostafa Abdelkader, Egypt’s ambassador to South Sudan, with the pair reviewing joint water projects between the two countries.

The depth of Egyptian-South Sudanese relations “pushes us to further work on strengthening the bonds of cooperation, integration and investment in various fields,” Sewilam said.

CAIRO: Authorities in Egypt have set a budget of about 3 billion Egyptian pounds ($97 million) for the maintenance and restoration of antiquities during the financial year 2023-2024, according to Ahmed Issa, the country’s minister of tourism.
Most of this cost will be self-financing, he added, funded by income generated from entry fees for the attractions.

AIN AL-HELWEH, Lebanon: Fruit and vegetable seller Ismail Akkawi had no choice but to brave days of intermittent but deadly fighting in Lebanon’s biggest Palestinian refugee camp in order to make ends meet.
The produce market at the heart of the restive Ain Al-Helweh camp — in the southern coastal city of Sidon — is usually bustling with vendors, but few have ventured out since clashes broke out in the camp late Saturday.
“I have to leave the house, despite the horrific circumstances for selling vegetables,” said Akkawi, who is in his sixties.

BEIRUT: A halted landmark grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with donor’s fatigue, is rattling the operations of the United Nations food agency, its deputy executive director said Tuesday.
“What we have to do now is to look elsewhere (for grain) of course,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program told The Associated Press. “We don’t know exactly where the market will land, but there might well be an increase in food prices.”

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister said on Tuesday Baghdad is in contact with the United States on settling outstanding debts of $10 billion the country owes Iran for gas imports.
Iranian gas is crucial for Iraq’s electricity generation, but US sanctions on Iranian oil and gas impose restrictions on how Baghdad can pay for its imports.
Iraq cannot directly hand over cash to Iran, but payments must be held in a bank account and be used by Tehran to fund imports of food and medicines.