German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Egypt now appears confirmed for 2-3 March, Ahram Online reports.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is heading to Washington on Saturday for a chat with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and to lay the groundwork for a visit to the White House by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

This, again? On the same day at home, a “national dialogue” session on the Daba’a nuclear power plant will bring state officials and executives from Russia’s Rosatom together with local groups and members of the House of Representatives in Marsa Matrouh, Al Ahram reports. The Electricity Ministry has reportedly been in and out of closed-door meetings with the state’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority and Rosatom officials to discuss the terms of the contracts for the plant and finalize the paperwork by March, Al Shorouk says.

A busy week for Amr El Garhy: The finance minister will appear before the House next week to present the USD 12 bn IMF loan agreement (and possibly to talk budget projections) and will also speak at an AmCham Egypt gathering on Egypt’s financial reform agenda on Sunday, 26 February, Al Masry Al Youm reports. Look for news next week of the Finance Ministry’s early outline of the FY2017-18 budget, too.

Unnamed officials tell Al Shorouk that El Garhy’s ministry has instructed other state entities to use a temporary exchange rate of EGP 13-15 per greenback in their submissions for next year’s budget until a final projection is calculated in March.