Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa arrived yesterday to begin a two-day visit to Cairo for meetings with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to bolster ties, Ahram Online reports. Egypt and Bahrain signed 11 MoUs in defense, vocational training, scientific research, fertilisers, healthcare, and electricity yesterday during the the ninth round of the Egypt-Bahrain Business Council, according to Ahram Online. Bahraini investments in Egypt have hit USD 1.7 bn, head of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry Khaled El Moayed told Al Borsa. During the council, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the countries are boosting intelligence cooperation to combat terrorism, while urging international collaboration to confront the phenomenon, according to Ahram Online.

The king’s visit to Egypt at this time is part of a wider move by the GCC to strengthen and grow ties with Egypt, following in the steps of the Saudi Arabian king who was here earlier this month, said Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in an interview with Al Ahram. This strengthening of ties comes at a time where Egypt’s stabilizing role in the region is needed the most and underscores the faith GCC leaders have placed in Egypt’s leadership.

Bahrain’s Midal Cables signed a USD 30 mn agreement with the Electricity Ministry to build an electric cables factory in Egypt, the company said yesterday, according to Al Borsa. The 30,000 sqm factory will be built in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, with Midal planning to sign an agreement with SCZone today when the Bahraini business delegations visits the zone, said Midal’s chairman Khalid Rashid Al Zayani.