FM Shoukry meets with US Secretary of State Blinken: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his US counterpart Antony J. Blinken held talks in Washington yesterday, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. On the agenda, according to a readout from the State Department: The “Negev Process” that has seen Egypt and other Arab countries shore up relations with Israel; the war in Ukraine; fears about global food security; and the peace process in Libya.

The two also discussed human rights, the statement read — a day after Blinken was quoted by the New York Times as criticizing Egypt’s record on political imprisonment as he launched his department’s latest human rights reports. Shoukry and Blinken also expressed their pride in marking the hundredth anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, stressing the strength of the Egypt-US relationship.

Egypt hosts UN-sponsored Libya talks: A Libyan delegation representing the parliament and another representing the High Council of State (HCS) yesterday began a round of talks in Cairo aimed at finding a solution for Libya’s ongoing political crisis, Reuters reports. The parliamentary delegation represents the new government, while the HCS is against removing the incumbent government and its prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, whose mandate expired in December.