It’s a slow morning for news on the diplomacy + foreign trade fronts.

The top story: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) discussed its pipeline of new projects in Egypt over the next five years at a meeting yesterday between International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat and the bank’s SEMED region Managing Director Heike Harmgart, according to a cabinet statement. The statement offered no details.

Syrian foreign minister and vice PM Walid Muallem has died, Syrian state media reported early this morning, according to Reuters. There were no further details on the cause of death. The long-time diplomat and Baath Party member has served as the country’s foreign minister since 2006 and as the deputy prime minister since 2012.

Also further afield: Clashes in Ethiopia threaten to escalate into regional conflict after Ethiopian Tigray rebels fighting against the government fired rockets into Eritrea’s capital city yesterday. The nutter in Ankara wants a two-state solution — in Cyprus, Reuters writes, and Israel is pressing ahead with a Jewish district in east Jerusalem while the Trump administration is still in the White House, Bloomberg reports.