The Agriculture Ministry, having put us in the jackpot in the first place, has established a “high-level” committee to try to patch things up with Russia, the Ministry announced yesterday, Reuters reports. As we noted yesterday, Egypt’s rejection of a Russian wheat shipment for failing to meet Egypt’s zero ergot policy saw Moscow retaliate with a ban on import of Egyptian fruit and vegetables for “sanitary” reasons. The Agriculture Ministry committee will meet with Russia’s ambassador in Cairo — who has already met Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil — to discuss the Russian import ban and to "avoid any obstacles" to solving the issue. Reuters notes that “Moscow has a history of using threats and limiting imports in trade disputes, but Cairo’s policy over the ergot fungus has created a headache for all of Egypt’s wheat suppliers, who say guaranteeing zero ergot in shipments is impossible.” Egyptian technical committee, which will include staff from the agriculture and trade ministries and the head of the Agriculture Export Council Abdel Hamid El Damardash, will visit Moscow on 26 September to discuss Moscow’s ban, the council’s former head Ali Eissa said yesterday.

This thing has the potential to snowball: Egyptian-Russian Business Council chief Shamel Mikhail Orlov is already escalating it to the head-of-state level, calling for Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah El Sisi to discuss the standoff. Orlov is also calling for the creation of a joint Russian-Egyptian committee to inspect the quality Egyptian produce exports, Al Borsa reports.