Mondays are often quiet on the news front in this corner of the world, and today is no exception: The combined effect of Sunday being the first day after an extended holiday in these parts and the weekend in the West was a welcome respite as we tried to kick our brains back into “work” gear yesterday.

The big news of the day is on the foreign policy front: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel will be in Ethiopia today to meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The two countries have been in talks over the dam for several years, and finally reached a breakthrough in June. Egypt and Ethiopia agreed at the time to an arrangement through which Ethiopia would amend the timeline for the filling of the dam in exchange for economic cooperation.

Why you should care: One of the underplayed successes of the Sisi administration has been the creation and implementation of a multipolar foreign policy — a role on the world stage that goes well beyond reminding people that “we made peace with Israel a generation ago.” That drive has seen Egypt do everything from deepen ties to Europe and Asia to diversify the list of countries from whom we acquire defense systems. Successful re-engagement with Africa, if it helps resolve the GERD issue before it becomes a crisis, could yet prove one of the key outcomes.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang is expected to sign a number of memorandums of understanding with with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Cairo today in fields including trade, industry, and investment, Ittihadiya spokesperson Bassem Rady tells Youm7. Quang is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Parliament speaker Ali Abdel Aal. Vietnamese Planning and Investment Minister Nguyen Chi Dung is also reportedly visiting Egypt within the week to discuss opportunities in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

Meanwhile, two pieces worth a moment of your time this morning:

Lessons for bankers: How America’s largest bank is recasting itself as a digital-led player: “JPMorgan Chase is rebuilding its consumer business model to create a ‘digital everything’ strategy that trades short-term losses for long-term profits.” The push is running under the banner “Mobile First, Digital Everything” and sees JPM pushing to develop its apps, offering no-charge trading to clients who invest through the bank, and expanding its offering in both mobile payments and credit cards. And, of course, becoming BFFs with the fintech set. Read How JPMorgan is preparing for the next generation of consumer banking on CB Insights.

Remember that “super-OPIC” we told you about before the break? Well, it seems it’s getting traction. America’s bid to get back into the development finance institution game with a successor to the Washington’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which we first picked up from the Financial Times, is now getting ink in the New York Times thanks to an op-ed by Devex’s Adva Saldinger. “A bill making its way through Congress would create a new, better funded and more powerful agency that would effectively replace OPIC,” Saldinger writes. The move is “perhaps the most significant shift in American development policy” since 2003. “The new agency has a powerful champion in OPIC’s chief executive, Ray Washburne, who has close ties to the White House. A Texas-based restaurant and real estate investor, he was vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee and head of the transition’s commerce team. He meets regularly with the White House, and he asked for and received an enclosed area to process classified information, something no previous OPIC chief executive has had.” Read Poor countries have an unlikely ally close to the White House.

Why you should care: Egypt’s private sector has landed significant funding from development finance agencies since the events of 2011 — and this could open the door to even more. OPIC has previously backed or proposed backing Qalaa Holdings (back in 2011), oil and gas player Apache, CIB, Carbon Holdings’ Tahrir Petrochemicals Corporation and microfinance players, among others.