There is “no confirmation” Egypt was invited to observe this week’s Syria reconciliation talks in Kazakhstan, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told Sputnik. The talks are set to be held in Astana today and tomorrow and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and US officials have been invited as observers. Separately, Minister Sameh Shoukry urged “rival Libyan factions to keep talking,” according to Ahram Online. “All parties should express an amount of flexibility in order to make this dialogue [Libyan-Libyan] a success,” Shoukry says.

Egypt and Iran are unlikely to re-establish full diplomatic relations any time soon despite recent backstage talks, Omid Khazani writes in Al Jazeera after speaking with Iranian analysts “Cairo’s concerns and difficulties for resumption of diplomatic ties with Tehran is much more serious," said Mosayyeb Naimi, editor-in-chief of Iran’s Arabic language Al Wifaq. He says that “the two countries’ efforts to reach a thaw in the relations have been constantly thwarted by some regional countries.”

The Egyptian-Lebanese Africa Trading and Investment Company is looking to increase Egyptian exports to the continent to USD 55 mn by the end of the year, and has signed agreements worth USD 25 mn during the first half of 2017, Al Borsa reports. The company, which was established last May, will open an office in the Ivory Coast and begin talks with the country’s importers, the company’s Vice President Magdy Tolba says.

Meanwhile, Sudan is looking to escalate its trade war with Egypt, with the Sudanese Industry Ministry sending an official request to the Trade Ministry calling for it to ban tomato sauce, ketchup and jam, Sputnik reports.

Illegal migration to Europe topped the agenda at a meeting between a German parliamentary delegation and the head of the House Social Solidarity Committee Abdel Hady El Qasaby Al Mal reports