Ties between Egypt and Saudi Arabia run deep and there is no need for mediation between the two countries, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a press conference with Jordanian counterpart Ayman El Safadi, Al Shorouk reported. Shoukry is in Amman, Jordan for talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II and Prime Minister Hany Mulki on security issues, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Egypt condemned Israel’s approval of a law legalizing Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land in the West Bank, the Times of Israel reported. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry called it “destructive to the possibility of reaching a two-state solution, enshrining the illegal status of settlements in contravention of laws, international conventions and UN Security Council resolutions.”

Egypt has eased restrictions at the Rafah border with Gaza in a sign of improved relations with Hamas, Reuters reports. Truckloads of goods have entered the enclave over the past weeks. Egypt has for years kept the Rafah border closed to goods and only opens up to people for three to five days every 40 days.

The joint Egyptian-Indian business council wants to double Indian investments in Egypt to USD 6 bn by the end of 2019 and wants to boost Egyptian exports to India this year, the council’s chairman Khaled Abul Makarem said, Al Borsa reports. Al Masry Al Youm has more.

Suez Canal Authority head Ahmed Darwish signed a memorandum of understanding with the Exclusive Economic Zone of Poland to establish a Polish industrial zone in the Suez Canal area, Al Shorouk reports.

The Egyptian-Romanian Business Forum meet in April for the first time in seven years, Al Ahram reports.