President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin agreed to strengthen defense ties during talks in Cairo yesterday focused on regional and global security issues. Austin called the US relationship with Egypt an “essential pillar” of Washington’s commitment to the region ahead of the talks, which saw the two sides discuss efforts to de-escalate Israeli-Palestinian tensions in the West Bank with El Sisi according to readouts from Ittihadiya and the Pentagon. The US defense minister also brought up the war in Ukraine and Iran’s nuclear program, according to the Pentagon statement. Austin also met with Defense Minister Mohamed Zaki, the Armed Forces said in a statement.

This was Austin’s third stop on a regional tour that earlier this week took him to Jordan and Iraq where he emphasized Washington’s commitment to regional security.

International attention: AP | AFP | Reuters | Financial Times

El Molla talks energy in Texas with US, EU, World Bank, private players: Oil Minister Tarek El Molla is making the rounds at S&P Global’s flagship CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas. El Molla discussed reducing emissions and the green transition with US Energy Minister Jennifer Granholm, and talked about upping natural gas exports to Europe with the European Commission’s energy director, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, according to a ministry statement. He also met with execs at multinational energy firms Eni, Bechtel, and Honeywell.