The biggest diplomacy story of the day: Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan could have a draft agreement on filling and operating the Grand Renaissance Dam within a week. Sudan, which chaired the first meeting yesterday of African Union-brokered negotiations that resumed yesterday following a seven-week hiatus, is expected to send out a formal invitation to technical teams from the three countries, the Irrigation Ministry said in a statement. Talks to resolve the drawn-out dispute kicked into gear yesterday after US President Donald Trump weighed in.

Cairo and Khartoum aren’t budging on their position that the negotiations must produce a “legally binding agreement,” President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Sudan’s transitional Sovereignty Council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan agreed in a separate meeting on Tuesday, according to a statement. Speaking ahead of the negotiations, members of Ethiopia’s negotiating team said talks would continue with a “general understanding” of contentious issues and that they were confident an agreement could be reached, Bloomberg reports.

Egypt will establish a rail network connecting Aswan to South Wadi Halfa in

Sudan in accordance with a MoU signed by Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir in a virtual meeting with Sudanese Minister Hashem Ibn Auf, according to a ministry statement. The project will be jointly funded by both countries as well as the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. The ministers also discussed a potential road project connecting Egypt and Chad through Sudan that will serve as a gateway for trade between Egypt and other African nations, as well as the Cairo-Cape Town highway, which is set to pass through nine countries.

Scottish companies are kicking the tires on investing in Egypt’s energy sector as part of a UK bid to help Egypt achieve “net zero” carbon emissions, the British Embassy in Cairo said. This came following a webinar held yesterday by the UK Department for International Trade and the Scottish Development International to listen to an overview of Egypt’s priorities to reform its energy sector and major oil and gas projects in the pipeline.