Topping diplomacy news this morning: Egypt’s maritime border demarcation agreement with Greece got signoff from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday, according to a decree published in the Official Gazette. The agreement, signed in August and ratified by the Egyptian and Greek parliaments, competes with a separate pact between Turkey and Libya last year for a joint maritime zone by expanding Greece’s territorial waters west into the Ionian sea. It led to a rift between Ankara and Athens, but both countries have been in talks recently to cool off tensions in the natural gas-rich area.

Also ratified by the president yesterday: A KWD 25 mn (c. USD 81 mn) facility from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) to fund the construction of a road that connects the tunnel running under the Suez Canal with Sharm El Sheikh.

Meanwhile on the trade front: Egypt’s citrus exports have fallen nearly 18% year-to-date due to trade disruptions caused by the pandemic. Head of the Central Administration of Agricultural Quarantine at the Ministry of Agriculture Ahmed Al Attar told Al Mal Egypt has exported some 1.4 mn tonnes of citrus fruits in 2020, compared to 1.7 mn tonnes during the same period last year.