Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia will launch their joint development fund this week, Sudan’s Minister of State Osama Faisal said at a press conference following an Arab Parliament session in Cairo, Ahram Online reports. The three countries had agreed in January to set up a joint investment fund between their three countries to finance infrastructure projects as part of talks to resolve a deadlock on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Meanwhile, Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq Al Mahdi has reportedly been refused entry on his return to Egypt, where he had been living in self-imposed exile, Reuters reports. Sudan’s government had accused al-Mahdi in 2014 of conspiring with armed rebels.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Cairo on Thursday to discuss increasing cooperation in several fields, in addition to regional developments, according to an Ittihadiya statement.

Japan has amended its travel advisory for Egypt to Level 1, which encourages travelers to exercise normal precaution, Egypt’s ambassador in Tokyo Ayman Kamel said, Ahram Gate reports. Japan previously had a Level 2 travel warning for Egypt, which recommends that travels reconsider traveling to the country altogether. EgyptAir had resumed flying to Tokyo last September after a four-year suspension due to weak demand.

Egypt topped the list of FDI recipients among COMESA member countries in 2017, according to a COMESA report cited by AMAY. Egypt saw the establishment of 92 new foreign projects last year with a combined total investment of USD 7.41 bn, outpacing Ethiopia (USD 3.57 bn), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (USD 1.35 bn), and Sudan (USD 1.06 bn). COMESA countries accounted for 30% of total FDI to Africa during the year, which saw overall FDI inflows to the continent drop by 21%, according to the report.