Topping diplomatic coverage this morning: Our campaign to deepen ties with Iraq. Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly met with Iraq’s president and signed 15 MoUs with his Iraqi counterpart Mustafa Al Kadhimi during a visit to Baghdad yesterday, a cabinet statement said. The agreements cover everything from oil and water resources to construction, transportation, environmental protection, as well an exchange of expertise in the stock market and judiciary, the statement said.

The two countries also agreed to establish an “oil-for-reconstruction” mechanism that could see Egyptian companies work on development projects in Iraq in return for importing Iraqi oil, the local press reports, citing statements made by the prime minister during the committee’s meeting, without providing additional detail.

Other takeaways from the meeting:

• Egypt is looking to increase exports to the Iraqi market;
• Potential links of our electricity, oil and gas distribution networks are on the table;
• Cooperation on water security;
• The two chambers of commerce want to do more together.

Egypt, Iraq eye joint logistics + energy projects with Jordan: Egypt is looking at setting up a logistics zone to store Egyptian goods on the Jordanian-Iraqi border, as well as a separate commercial center for Egyptian wares in Baghdad, International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat said on Friday at preparatory meetings ahead of the committee meeting, according to a ministry statement. A shared electricity grid between Egypt and Iraq and a trilateral oil and gas pipeline between the three countries was also on the agenda for a separate meeting Al Mashat had with Iraqi Planning Minister Khaled Battal, according to a statement.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with the Russian deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, on Friday in Moscow, a Foreign Ministry statement said. Topping the agenda were discussions of the Russian industrial zone project in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, the construction of the Dabaa nuclear station, and the political settlement for the Libyan crisis. Bogdanov also expressed his country's hope that Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will reach an agreement over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

IN OTHER NEWS: Egypt’s fiscal response to covid-19 earned praise from newly-appointed IMF executive board member Mahmoud Mohieldin in a meeting with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, according to a cabinet statement, and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt-Gen. Mohamed Farid met with Sudan’s defence minister and chief of staff in Khartoum on Saturday to discuss security cooperation, an armed forces statement said on Saturday.