Egypt's Grand Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed al-Tayeb (right) receives Michel Aoun at his office in Cairo on February 13, 2017 ©KHALED DESOUKI

Leader of Egypt's Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria (left) receives Michel Aounat St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District of Cairo on February 13, 2017 ©KHALED DESOUKI (AFP)

News compiled by AFP and Daily News Egypt -

by Daily Mail - The newly elected Lebanese president Michel Aoun has arrived in Egypt on Monday afternoon for his first official visit since his inauguration for the sake of fostering relations with Egypt in all fields.Following his arrival at Cairo International, Aoun met with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and both held a press conference following their meeting in the headquarters of the Egyptian Presidency in the Heliopolis suburb During the press conference, broadcasted through the official Egyptian state-run channel, Al-Sisi asserted that Egypt will continue its support for Lebanon in all fields and that he is confident that Aoun’s presidency will foster the Lebanese cultural and political diversity that is based on compatibility between different political entities. Al-Sisi noted that Egypt is in full readiness to support the capabilities of the Lebanese army and its different security apparatuses, and that bilateral discussion touched the counterterrorism efforts, the Syrian crisis, and the refugee crisis that Lebanon is currently suffering from.

“Egypt always sought to keep Lebanon stable, and it communicated with different Lebanese political entities to affirm that dialogue is the solution to all disputes. Egypt was among the first countries that welcomed the Lebanese people’s ability to reach political agreement that has been made in Lebanon without interference from external entities,” said Al-Sisi during his speech delivered in the press conference. Moreover, he stressed that Egypt will do its best to keep Lebanon away from any tribulations that drag it into any religious or doctrinal conflicts that only aim to eliminate tolerance and diversity from the Arab world.

“We also discussed the current ongoing preparations executed for launching the upcoming Arab Summit that will take place in Jordan. I really appreciate President Aoun’s invitation to visit Lebanon, and I will be there soon,” Al-Sisi concluded in his speech. On his turn, Lebanese president Michel Aoun noted during his speech that Egypt and Lebanon are connected by strong historical relations since the Arab renaissance, saying that all hopes are pinned on the role that Egypt can play by launching Arab initiatives to execute common strategy to counter terrorism. Egypt is capable of finding political solutions to the urgent crises in the Arab world, especially in Syria where the fire spread widely years ago and left its effects on Lebanon that manifested in the increase of Lebanon’s population by 50%,” Aoun added.

In January, Minister of Industry and Trade Tarek Kabil said that Egyptian exports to Lebanon increased by 65% during 2016 compared to 2015, adding that a lot of different fields benefited from the increase. Construction materials manufacturers benefitted most from the hike in exports, as their exports increased by 225% to a record EGP 277m, Kabil said in a statement issued during a meeting with Lebanese agriculture minister Ghazi Zaiter, who was visiting Cairo. Both ministers discussed increasing Egypt’s exports of potatoes to 60,000 tonnes compared to 57,000 tonnes in 2015 worth $57m

by naharnet – President Michel Aoun has stressed that Hizbullah’s weapons “do not contradict with the State,” noting that it is “more …

The National - Robin Mills

Snow fell across Lebanon over the New Year, and power cuts plunged towns in the Bekaa valley into darkness. Syrian refugees in Akkar huddled in their tents. Meanwhile, as Egypt and Israel forge ahead with developing their offshore gasfields, the inviting Mediterranean waters seem to hold the elusive solution to the country’s energy and economic woes. Lebanon thinks the time has come for its own deepwater gas wealth. The election in October of a new president, Michel Aoun, after an interregnum of more than two years, has permitted the passage of two crucial decrees enabling exploration bids. Eni’s giant Zohr find off Egypt, less than 300 kilometres from Lebanese waters, has raised optimism about the area.

Beirut has divided its offshore into 10 blocks. Five will be offered in the initial round, with a deadline in September – numbers 8, 9 and 10, along the disputed maritime border with Israel, block 1 on the Syrian frontier in the north, and block 4 in the middle. The bidding conditions are stringent. Applicants to lead a consortium have to have US$10 billion of assets and to operate at least one deepwater petroleum project. Qualification for a lesser role requires US$500 million of assets and established oil or gas production. Companies that qualified for the last, abortive round in 2011 include some impressive contenders – Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Statoil, Total, Eni and others. Qualified non-operators featured the UAE’s Dragon Oil, Crescent and Dana Gas alongside a slew of local, Japanese, Russian, Turkish and other companies. But Lebanon’s ambitions face three serious problems: low oil and gas prices; politics; and the difficulty of marketing gas.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese Hezbollah movement strongly supports the Syrian ceasefire agreed on in Kazakhstan and any truce that could lead to a political solution, its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday. Moscow and Ankara brokered a shaky ceasefire in December between the Syrian government and rebel groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. The agreement led to indirect talks last month in the Kazakh capital of Astana, where Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to monitor the fragile truce. Several senior Hezbollah commanders and hundreds of fighters have died in Syria, where the Shi'ite Iranian-backed group is fighting in support of Assad.

"Hezbollah strongly supports, not just the Astana ceasefire, any ceasefire agreed upon in Syria," Nasrallah said, in order "to prevent bloodshed and pave the way for political solutions". Nasrallah said the battle in Aleppo city had changed the path of the Syrian conflict, now in its sixth year. Syrian government forces, helped by Russian air power and Iranian-backed militia, drove rebel groups out of east Aleppo in December, in Assad's most important gain of the war. "For six years, Syria faced the risk of the collapse of the state," Nasrallah said in a televised speech. "This danger has been mostly overcome."