El Sisi talks military cooperation, manufacturing and technology transfer with South Korea’s defense minister: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday held military cooperation and investment talks with South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook on the second day of the latter’s visit to Cairo — the first of its kind to Egypt by a Korean defense minister, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Beyond defense cooperation, the two discussed opportunities to work together in manufacturing, tech and infrastructure. El Sisi and Suh also discussed potential investment and partnerships in Egypt’s major development projects. Suh later met with Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Zaki. Cairo was Suh’s first leg of a six-day Middle East tour that will take him to Oman next.

Cairo may hold the next round of ministerial-level meetings of Libya’s neighbors, a suggestion agreed upon unanimously by foreign ministers who concluded yesterday a two-day meeting in Algeria, the Algerian foreign ministry said in a statement. The gathering is part of a process that aims to reach a political resolution to the conflict between Tripoli’s unity government and eastern Libyan leader Khalifa Haftar. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for “comprehensive and credible” national elections in Libya to put an end to the country’s transitional period and foreign ministers reiterated their call for the exit of all foreign forces from Libya. Shoukry held back-to-back meetings with his Libyan and Sudanese counterparts on the sidelines of the gathering.

The Egyptian-Qatari committee agreed to further strengthen bilateral ties in the medium term in meetings held yesterday in Cairo, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The committee is tasked with follow-up on the implementation of the Al Ula accord. The meeting comes after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met in Baghdad on Saturday for the first time since the reconciliatory pact this year ended an almost four-year Qatari diplomatic rift with Egypt and its Gulf neighbors.