CAIRO: Egypt has bought about 126,000 tons of wheat from Russia and Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

The shipments, comprising about 63,000 tons from each side, are expected to arrive at Egyptian ports in the coming days, the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade said.

The country has also bought about 63,000 tons of wheat from Romania and recently received a further shipment of the grain from France, it added.

The announcement came after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi recently met with the government to approve new incentives encouraging local wheat growers to increase their output during the current season.

Following the meeting a presidential spokesman said the talks dealt with “a review of the executive position on a number of national projects in the food security and agriculture sector,” including efforts to increase productivity.

“In this context, the president directed to grant an additional supply incentive to the price of local wheat for the current agricultural season, in order to encourage farmers to supply the largest possible quantity,” the spokesman said.

Egypt’s Minister of Supply Ali Al-Moselhi said the government aimed to purchase more than 6 million tons of local wheat during the current harvest season, which begins in mid-April.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday that the country’s strategic reserve of wheat was sufficient to last for four months and that the government would not have to resort to buying further shipments from overseas before the end of the year.

Egypt is the world’s largest importer of wheat and buys most of what it needs from Russia and Ukraine.

CAIRO: Mohamed Ahmed Morsi, Egypt’s minister of state for military production, held talks with Raymond Piselli, vice president of Lockheed Martin, and Joseph Rank, CEO of the American defense company in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Africa, on ways to enhance cooperation.

Morsi stressed the ministry’s primary role, which is to meet the needs of the armed forces and police in terms of ammunition, weapons and equipment.

He also reviewed the manufacturing, technological and human capabilities of the military production companies and units that can be a point of cooperation with the American company.

Morsi noted the Ministry of Military Production’s interest in benefiting from the expertise of Lockheed Martin, stressing the ministry’s eagerness to localize the latest global technologies in military industries and conclude a strategic partnership in advance defense systems that would benefit both sides.

He referenced the recent economic reforms that Egypt implemented, which have contributed to the country’s growing presence in the field of security and defense, evident in the organization of Egypt’s Defense Exhibition at the end of last year.

Piselli gave a presentation on the American company, currently considered one of the largest military industry companies in the world, manufacturing radars, battle tanks, missiles, aircraft, train operating systems, flight training systems and technology laboratories.

He affirmed the company’s interest in cooperating with Egypt in military manufacturing due to the country’s significant capabilities in this field, which prompted Lockheed Martin to participate as a golden sponsor for the second edition of EDEX.

Rank stressed that military cooperation between the US and Egypt has been an essential component of their strategic partnership for nearly 40 years.

He added that Lockheed Martin adopts a three-pillar approach in its cooperation with partners, which includes knowledge transfer, localization of industries and human capital development.

He said that the company is keen to contribute to the development of the defense industries sector in partner countries.

Rank expressed his hope that this meeting would play an important role in opening new doors for investment and cooperation.

AL-MUKALLA: Heavy fighting has broken out between Yemeni government troops and the Iran-backed Houthis outside the central city of Marib during the past 24 hours, killing and wounding dozens of combatants, a local military official told Arab News on Sunday.

The fighting took place as the UN Yemen envoy, Hans Grundberg, announced the conclusion of his first week of consultations with key Yemeni parties.

Backed by Arab coalition warplanes, Yemen army troops and allied tribal fighters on Sunday attacked Houthi fighters stationed on mountainous terrain south of Marib city, with the aim of pushing the militia away from the strategic city.

“We set ambushes and attacked the Houthis in Juba district. We managed to advance in the Akada mountain range,” the anonymous Yemeni military official said. The fierce fighting on the ground sparked heavy airstrikes by Arab coalition warplanes that destroyed Houthi military reinforcements and vehicles.

“The Arab coalition has carried out many precision airstrikes that hit the enemy’s locations and military equipment,” the official said.

Local media reports also said that the Houthis on Friday and Saturday renewed their attacks on government troops on Al-Balaq mountain range outside Marib city, but largely failed to achieve any territorial gains after government troops repelled their advances.

The strategic Al-Balaq is the closest battlefield to the city of Marib. Houthi seizure of the mountain range would enable artillery strikes over sections of the city. The coalition said on Sunday that 12 air raids by jets killed many Houthis and destroyed eight vehicles in Marib province during the past 24 hours.

For more than a year, the Houthis have relentlessly attacked the city, the government’s last bastion in the northern half of Yemen, rejecting warnings from local and international organizations about the impact of the attacks on the growing humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The Houthi offensive on Marib has claimed the lives of thousands of combatants and civilians, and forced thousands of people to flee their homes across the province.

At the same time, Yemen President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi ordered his government to give urgent attention and financial assistance to army troops battling the Houthis across the country, the official news agency said on Saturday. Hadi told his commanders in Marib city that they should pay soldiers’ salaries on time, provide them financial incentives, treat the wounded and take care of the families of dead soldiers.

Separately, the UN Yemen envoy announced in the Jordanian capital, Amman, the conclusion of his first week of direct consultations with key Yemeni parties.

It comes as part of his efforts to listen to views, ideas and suggestions that will be included in his framework for ending the war in Yemen.

During the first week, the UN envoy met with leaders of the General People’s Congress and representatives from Al-Islah Party, the Yemeni Socialist Party and the Nasserist Unionist People’s Organization. This week, Grundberg will meet in Amman with representatives of the Southern Transitional Council, the Inclusive Hadramout Conference, the General People’s Congress, as well as security experts, economists and civil society leaders.

“The special envoy explained that the intent of the consultations was to gather, in an honest and frank way, ideas, views and suggestions on immediate and long-term priorities for the political, security and economic tracks,” Grundberg’s office said in a statement.

BEIRUT: More than 500 candidates, including 69 women, have applied to contest Lebanese parliamentary elections on May 15, with the country’s Ministry of Interior expecting the number to rise dramatically before the midnight deadline on Tuesday.

A total of 517 candidates had submitted applications by late Friday.

The 2018 elections were contested by 976 candidates, including 113 women, but the number fell after the closure of registrations. As a result, 597 candidates, including 86 women, continued in 77 lists across Lebanese constituencies.

The outlook of this year’s election will become clearer after the completion of electoral lists on April 4. Voters will head to the polls on May 15, with candidates competing for the country’s 128 parliamentary seats across 15 electoral districts.

A number of the main parties will officially announce their candidates on Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri will reveal his candidates, including current MPs and defendants in the Beirut Port explosion hearings, at a press conference.

The Free Patriotic Movement announced its candidates during its seventh annual conference on Sunday. In an address, the party’s leader, Gebran Bassil, attacked his political opponents, including the March 14 Alliance and the civil movement, which he called “a false revolution,” adding that “they will fall.”

Bassil defended Hezbollah and said that its partnership with the FPM in the electoral lists, to be formed later, “is not a program partnership, but a process of integrating votes.”

Hezbollah seeks to ensure that the FPM reaches parliamentary seats with the least possible losses. Hezbollah officials have said: “Whoever fails the Amal Movement and Hezbollah is a partner in the largest regional and international attack that wants to destroy Hezbollah, which protects Lebanon.”

MP Wael Abou Faour of the Progressive Socialist Party said that “the project of the March 8 Alliance (including Hezbollah and its allies) in the elections boils down to obtaining two-thirds of the members of Parliament and thus imposing their spoiled candidate as president of the Republic, (referring to MP Gebran Bassil), controlling constitutional amendments, changing the system and turning the issue of the de facto weapons into a constitutional reality, which will not be the will of the Lebanese.”

The Lebanese Forces party will launch its campaign on Monday to coincide with the anniversary of the Cedar Revolution on March 14.

Candidates representing Lebanon’s Sunni sect are expected to include a number of independent personalities, even those loyal to the late prime minister Rafik Hariri, after the Future Movement asked its members to resign from the party if they decided to run for Parliament.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati is likely to back out of the elections. Three MPs from the FM — Rola Tabsh, Mohammed Hajjar and Asim Araji — said they would do the same, confirming their loyalty to Saad Hariri.

Six groups of civil activists on Saturday launched a joint project to unite progressive oppositional forces in one electoral front. The rally set the stage for the drafting of a joint working paper through which the candidates will be announced early next week.

However, parliamentary elections continue to be threatened by Lebanon’s deepening economic crisis and the prospect of the country sliding further toward collapse in the two months leading up to the May 15 poll.

President Michel Aoun has been quoted as saying that “the money for the elections is not yet available.”

Opinion polls carried out by several private institutions on an almost weekly basis showed a decline in voter enthusiasm for candidates, as well as an increase in political ambivalence and resentment of ruling authorities.

CAIRO: President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi affirmed Egypt’s “absolute support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees to continue to play its role in providing basic and necessary services to Palestinian refugees.”

During his meeting with UNRWA Commissioner General Philip Lazzarini, El-Sisi said the agency “is the only mechanism that carries out the important humanitarian responsibility of improving the conditions of Palestinians in the Palestinian territories, especially in the areas of education and health.”

He added: “Egypt stresses during its contacts with all regional and international parties the importance of providing the necessary support to UNRWA, especially with the conditions it faces and the negative repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, with the aim of maintaining the continuation of its work in the required manner.”

He alluded to Egypt’s readiness to support some of the agency’s relief projects, especially through the Egyptian Initiative for the Reconstruction of Gaza.

El-Sisi and Lazzarini reviewed UNRWA’s role and the challenges it faces. The latter stressed Egypt’s historic role in mobilizing the support of the international community for the agency to continue to support Palestinian refugees.

Lazzarini also praised the high priority that Egypt attaches to improving conditions in the Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip.