Topping diplomatic coverage this morning: Egypt will receive EUR 132.8 mn from Germany to fund 11 development projects in 2021, according to a cabinet statement. The projects span vocational and technical training, private sector support, solid waste management, water efficiency, digital governance, administrative reform, and other areas.

On to trade: Egypt’s commercial rep office in Tunisia thinks there’s room for an Egyptian-Tunisian bank to facilitate trade and promote investment, Amwal Al Ghad reports, citing state-run news agency MENA.

Moving on to politics, the Foreign Ministry has condemned Israel’s decision to establish a Jewish district in east Jerusalem, expressing “deep concern” that the development will further erode the chances of a two-state solution in a statement. The Israeli government on Sunday invited bids to construct more than 1.2k apartments in east Jersualeml in a move Bloomberg says is designed to further cut off the city from the West Bank and prevent a future Palestinian capital in the east of the city.

Industrial investors are concerned about the fate of Egyptian-owned factories in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as government forces continue to clash with rebel militia. Alaa El Saqty, the head of the Egyptian industrial zone in Ethiopia, said yesterday that factories established in the regional capital worth mns of USD are at risk of being destroyed as the government bombs the city, Masrawy reports. The businesses have already suffered heavy losses after the conflict forced Egyptian workers to flee the country and operations to shutter, he said.

Egyptian naval forces are en route to the Black Sea to conduct drills alongside the Russian military, the Armed Forces said yesterday. This comes as Russia announced plans to expand its regional military footprint with a naval base in Sudan, the Financial Times reports.

And what about ending the 3+ year dispute with Qatar? “It’s not on anyone’s priority list,” UAE ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba told a panel hosted by The Economic Club of Washington DC this week.