Lead:
Egypt's Council of Ministers, convening its 98th weekly session under Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly at the New Administrative Capital, approved nine wide-ranging resolutions on Wednesday coinciding with the anniversary of the June 30 Revolution. Decisions spanned energy investment licensing, a presidential pardon ahead of the July 23 Revolution anniversary, infrastructure development, and commemorative coin issuance, signaling a government intent on projecting institutional momentum across multiple policy fronts simultaneously.
Details:
According to Al-Fagr, the Cabinet approved the Golden License for energy storage battery projects, authorized the establishment of a free zone for textiles, greenlighted the construction of Abu Hammad New Hospital, and allocated 330,000 feddans for development projects. The session also ratified a presidential decree pardoning the remaining sentences of select convicts on the occasion of the July 23 Revolution anniversary, a measure framed as a humanitarian gesture within an established state tradition of periodic clemency.
El-Balad reports that Prime Minister Madbouly, presiding over the session, affirmed that June 30 embodied the collective will of the Egyptian people and pledged that the government would continue its economic reform agenda. A separate resolution addressing the ongoing "coded meters" crisis — affecting millions of utility subscribers — was discussed, with Al-Fagr noting that Madbouly linked regulatory normalization of these meters to the broader reform trajectory. Parliamentary sources cited by Sada Al-Balad indicated that three ministers have been summoned by the House of Representatives over the same issue, underscoring legislative pressure on the executive branch.
On the diplomatic front, Al-Fagr reported that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received the credentials of 17 newly appointed ambassadors to Egypt, while extending congratulations to Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the Vatican's national day. Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdel Aaty held a telephone call with Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, and newly appointed Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy assumed his duties at the League's Cairo headquarters, according to Al-Fagr.
On the security and defense dimension, Newsd quoted Air Defense Forces Commander General Yasser Al-Toudi warning that cyberattacks have become a decisive weapon in modern conflicts, asserting that Egypt's forces are well-prepared for this evolving threat environment — remarks delivered in a context of heightened regional tensions.
Watch For:
Whether parliamentary summoning of three ministers over the coded meters dispute escalates into a formal no-confidence motion or produces a negotiated administrative resolution in the coming sessions.
The pace at which the newly granted Golden Licenses for energy storage projects attract foreign investment, particularly given concurrent meetings between the Planning Minister and the Irish Ambassador on green economy cooperation.
How Lebanon's declared commitment to a purely negotiated path for full Israeli withdrawal — as reiterated by Foreign Minister Youssef Raji and reported by El-Balad — intersects with broader regional security dynamics involving Iran, where Tehran pardoned 850 prisoners ahead of Khamenei's funeral proceedings.