Saudi King Salman arrives in Egypt on 5-day trip

King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz is expected to stay for five days in the first official state visit by the Saudi monarch since ascending to the Saudi throne in January 2015

A handout picture released by the Egyptian Presidency on April 7, 2016 shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (L) and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz reviewing troops before a meeting in the capital Cairo. Saudi King Salman started a five-day visit to Cairo in a show of support for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with the leaders due to sign a raft of investment deals

Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz arrives in Egypt Thursday in his first official state visit to Cairo since ascending to the Saudi throne in January 2015.

The trip is expected to last for five days.

Salman was greeted by the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi upon arrival Thursday.

During Salman's visit, Egypt will sign four funding accords with Saudi Arabia worth roughly $22 billion, to come into effect Friday, according to official sources.

El-Sisi and the Saudi king are expected to meet on Friday in a plenary session to discuss regional and international issues as well as bilateral relations.

A press conference by both presidents is expected following the session.

The Saudi king is also expected to visit Egypt's parliament on Sunday.

Deputy head of the parliament Soliman Wahdan added that Salman may give a speech during his what he described as a "historic visit" to parliament.

Salman previously visited Egypt's southern Sinai city of Sharm El-Sheikh in March 2015 for the Arab League summit.

The Egyptian presidency described Salman's visit to Cairo as "crowning the close brotherly ties between the two countries."

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir described the visit as "historic."

Saudi Arabia has supported Cairo with billions of dollars in aid, grants, oil products and cash deposits to help buoy the country's economy following the ouster of Islamist ousted Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Russian Defence Ministry : Egypt to buy large amount of advanced weapons from Moscow

Egypt has been fighting an Islamist militant insurgency in North Sinai

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R)

Egypt plans to buy large amounts of modern and advanced weapons from Russia, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered federal service for military-technical cooperation to rapidly respond to an Egyptian request to buy armaments, Russian Interfax agency reported.

It’s not yet known what type of weapons Egypt plans to buy.

Shoigu’s announcement comes after a two-day visit to Egypt, where he met Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday in Cairo. The meeting was attended by the Egyptian defence minister, the Russian deputy defence minister, and the Russian ambassador to Cairo.

During his meeting with El-Sisi, the Russian defence minister said Russia appreciates Egypt’s role in achieving security and stability in the region, according to a statement released by the Egyptian presidency.

He also affirmed that Russia is keen to continue cooperation with Egypt in all areas, especially in the military field, highlighting the importance of unified efforts by the international community in combating terrorism.

Russian news agency TASS quoted the Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, who said that Russia will respond in coming weeks to Egypt’s armaments and combat hardware requests.

"The plan is that we must give an answer to all the requests of our Egyptian friends in the coming weeks," Antonov said.

The Russian defence minister and his Egyptian counterpart agreed to maintain close contact and keep the issues of military and technical cooperation "under personal control," Antonov said.

Russian media reports said earlier that Russia may sign a deal with Egypt for the delivery of Kamov Ka-52K helicopters developed for the Mistral-class amphibious ships and the corresponding equipment. Chief of the Kremlin Staff Sergey Ivanov said the sum of the deal might exceed $1 billion.The Russian delegation’s visit comes less than a week after the two countries signed the Dabaa nuclear plant deal, which involves the building of four third-generation reactors in Egypt.

Egypt is carrying out an investigation into the crash of a Russian airliner that was downed in central Sinai on 31 October, killing all 224 people on board. Cairo has accepted Russian participation in the inquiry.

Russia claims that a bomb caused the crash, but Egyptian authorities have not confirmed this, saying the investigation is ongoing.

Schedule for ‪#‎Egypt‬'s ‪#‎parliamentary‬ elections expected next week

Preparations for the polls will begin next week, but some political observers are worried a recent presidential decision could make dissolution more likely

A new date for Egypt's long-delayed parliamentary elections is expected to be announced next week, a minister has said, after a ceremony marking the opening of a new Suez Canal channel is held on Thursday.

The elections were originally scheduled for March, but the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the law regulating electoral districts was unconstitutional.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Transitional Justice, Ibrahim El-Heneidy, told reporters on Saturday that he expects that the seven-member Supreme Elections Committee (SEC), which is in charge of supervising Egypt's parliamentary elections, to announce a timetable for the long-delayed polls.

“President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has at last ratified the two remaining laws necessary to pave the way for the polls," said El-Heneidy, stressing that "the government and president's roles regarding the polls have now finished and from now on it is the SEC's turn to take responsibility for the next stage of the election process."

"I expect that the detailed timeline of the polls will be announced next week, and we are keen as government officials not to intervene in these polls in any way," said the minister.

El-Heneidy said that the two electoral laws ratified by El-Sisi on Saturday concern the exercise of political rights and the affairs of the House of Representatives.

El-Heneidy indicated that the political rights law was amended to state that a list of 15 party-based candidates cannot spend more than LE2.5 million on election campaigns.

"In case of a run-off round, the amount will be reduced to LE1 million," said El-Heneidy.

The law also states that a list of 45 party-based candidates cannot spend more than LE7.5 million in campaigning costs, and in case of a run-off vote the amount will be reduced to LE3 million.

Speaking about the House of Representatives law, El-Heneidy said that it states that Egypt's coming parliament will comprise 568 elected MPs, with 448 elected as independents and 120 elected via party lists.

Five percent of the house, or 28 MPs, will be appointed directly by the president, bringing the total number of representatives to 596, El-Heneidy said.

The Supreme Elections Committee (SEC) began on Saturday accepting applications from civil society organisations and media outlets wishing to obtain permits to cover the polls.

According to the SEC's spokesman Omar Marawan, the outlets and organisations seeking permits will be able to register with the committee from 21 to 25 August, while the permits will be given out from 26 to 30 August.

Marawan told reporters that the committee's decision regarding the schedule for media permits was the first concrete step paving the way for parliamentary elections.

"I can say that the wheels of Egypt's parliamentary elections have at last begun moving," said Marawan.

Marawan also indicated that the ratification of the two remaining laws on parliamentary elections will help speed things up.

"As President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has ratified the amendments to the two remaining laws on parliamentary elections -- the law on the exercise of political rights ([aw no.45 of 2014], and the law on the House of Representatives [law no.46 of 2014]-- I agree that the Supreme Elections Committee will be now fully entitled to set a detailed timeline for the polls," said Marawan.

The spokesman said that El-Sisi had last month ratified the amendments to two other significant laws related to the elections, the law on the division of electoral constituencies (law no. 202 of 2014) and the law on the performance of the Supreme Constitutional Court (law no. 48 of 1979). These amendments were “very important preliminary steps on the road to the polls," said Marawan.

In a speech to graduating students from a number of military academies on Thursday, President El-Sisi stressed that Egypt will have a new parliament before the end of this year. "This shows we are committed to achieving the goals of democracy, freedom, justice, and equality for all," El-Sisi said.

Political analysts and activists interviewed said they hope El-Sisi's words on democracy aren't just lip service.

Anwar El-Sadat, chairman of the liberal Reform and Development Party, told : "El-Sisi vowed several times that parliamentary elections would be held soon, but these promises have not yet come true."

"We know that legal and constitutional obstacles have prevented parliamentary elections from being held for more than a year, but now with all obstacles eliminated, we hope the polls will kick off very soon," said El-Sadat.

He warned, however, that El-Sisi's decision on 28 July to repeal a law obliging the Supreme Constitutional Court to issue rulings on complaints against election laws within a tight deadline could be a double-edged weapon.

"This decision could be catastrophic, because it puts the coming parliament at the mercy of the Supreme Constitutional Court," said El-Sadat, noting that the court “had previously ordered that Egypt's 2012 Islamist-dominated parliament be dissolved upon the grounds that its election law violated the constitution,” and that El-Sisi's decision could make this scenario a possibility once more.

"This is true as long as the Supreme Constitutional Court has now become free to issue rulings on election laws at any time," said El-Sadat.

The politician, however, said that although potentially problematic, the decision "was the inevitable option at this moment, in order to pave the way for parliamentary elections to be held in the shortest possible time."

"El-Sisi's decision on 28 July was issued to stem the tide of constitutional challenges which aimed to delay parliamentary elections permanently," argued El-Sadat.

He stressed that, once elected, the coming parliament should move quickly to safeguard itself from any possible threats of dissolution. "MPs could change the Supreme Constitutional Court law so that its rulings on election laws do not have an immediate effect on parliament, or at least let parliament complete its term [after a ruling] without being dissolved at once," he said.

Shawki El-Sayed, a prominent election appeals lawyer and a former independent member of the Shura Council, argued that: "obliging the Supreme Constitutional Court to issue rulings on complaints against election laws within a short timeframe exerted a lot of pressure on its judges and as a result they urged El-Sisi to cancel a decree issued early last year by former interim president Adly Mansour, now the Supreme Constitutional Court's chairman, to free themselves from any time limits."

El-Sayed explained that complaints filed with the Supreme Constitutional Court are confined to election laws only and the court's job is to see whether these contravene the constitution or not.

"As for the complaints and appeals on the election process itself, such as contesting the legality of a certain candidate, these will have to be filed before the Supreme Elections Committee, which is exclusively mandated with supervising the election process," said El-Sayed.

He explained that there is a third kind of election appeal – those that are “filed against the election results, and these have to be decided by the Court of Cassation.”

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Transitional Justice Ibrahim El-Heneidy explained that the law governing the affairs of the Supreme Constitutional Court was amended by interim president Adly Mansour in early 2014 (decree no. 26 of 2014) to oblige the court to issue rulings on appeals against election laws within five days of receiving the appeal, but El-Sisi's amendment will allow the court to decide on these appeals without any time limit.

El-Heneidy indicated that the amendment was proposed by the court's board itself. "Its judges, headed by former interim president Adly Mansour, complained that the time limit on election law appeals placed a tremendous burden on them and that they do not want to be restricted by any time limits in looking into these complaints," said El-Heneidy.

Amr Hashem Rabie, a political analyst, warned that although El-Sisi's decision might safeguard election laws against constitutional challenges in the short run, it could pose a serious threat to parliament in the long run.

"I agree that the scenario of 2012's parliament could happen again, because if any election law was ruled unconstitutional after parliament was elected, parliament would be dissolved automatically," said Rabie.

By contrast, Shehab Wagih, spokesman of the Free Egyptians Party, heaped praise on El-Sisi's decision, arguing that: "it will help prevent those fond of filing appeals against election laws from pursuing this ruinous adventure."

"But I do not think that this will be a threat to parliament in the long run because we believe that all the recent amendments of the election laws are in line with the constitution, and hence there will be no grounds for any possible dissolution," said Wagih.

El-Sayed said that he believes that "in issuing rulings on complaints against election laws in the future, the Supreme Constitutional Court's board will be keen not to destabilise any of the state's authorities."

Besides, said El-Sayed, "I see that most political parties have refrained from contesting the constitutionality of the amended election laws and as a result this issue will not become a thorn in the side of the coming parliament."

In June 2012, just five months into its term, the Islamist-dominated parliament was ordered to be dissolved by the Supreme Constitutional Court, on the grounds that the election law by which the MPs were elected discriminated against independent candidates.

El-Heneidy disclosed that an earlier legislative proposal aimed at making the coming parliament immune to dissolution was rejected.

"The proposal, submitted by some political parties, stipulated that if a parliamentary election law was ruled unconstitutional, this should not lead to an automatic or immediate dissolution of parliament," said El-Heneidy, adding that, "this proposal was rejected by the cabinet last month."

El-Sadat argued the parties' proposal that the coming parliament not be dissolved at once should an election law be invalidated was aimed at stabilizing the country's political and legislative life and helping Egypt move forward along the road of democracy.

241 'terrorists' killed in North Sinai in 5 days: Military

An Egyptian military personnel carrier patrols on the Egyptian side of the border between Egypt and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 1, 2015

The Egyptian army has killed 241 terrorists in North Sinai over the past five days, the army's spokesman said in a statement on Monday.

From 1 to 5 July, the army also arrested four wanted terrorists and 29 other suspects, the statement read.

Four terrorist headquarters were also destroyed, spokesman Mohamed Samir added in a statement on his official Facebook page that also included pictures of the mangled bodies of dead alleged terrorists.

On Saturday, the army published videos of airstrikes on these hideouts.

The statement added that 26 vehicles used by terrorists were destroyed, including 11 land cruisers, while 16 bombs, prepared to attack army and police personnel in the peninsula, were made safe.

Army personnel confiscated a number of militant weapons, including RPGs, machine guns, mortar shells, and hand grenades.

The army has intensified its offensive in the peninsula after simultaneous attacks on military personnel on Wednesday, claimed by Islamist militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (ABM), left at least 21 soldiers dead.

On Saturday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi visited troops in North Sinai, donning his military uniform for the first time since he took office in June 2014, to show his "respect" and "recognition" for their part in the "fight against terrorism."

The decade-long militant insurgency in North Sinai has intensified in the past two years, with hundreds of army and police personnel killed. The army has also announced the killing of hundreds of terrorists.

In November 2014, ABM claimed allegiance to the Islamic State militant group that controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq.

#Egypt #President Abdel-Fattah El #Sisi to meet with #German parliamentary leader Monday

The German Parliamentarian Volker Kauder had previously lauded the election of El-Sisi as Egypt president

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is scheduled to meet on Monday with German Parliamentarian Volker Kauder, as Egypt and Germany take steps to strengthen their ties.

The Egyptian president will hold talks with the leader of the parliamentary block of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), at the Ittihadiya presidential palace, a presidency statement read.

Last year, Kauder hailed the election of El-Sisi on his own personal website, describing it as a “chance for greater stability and better future.”

The German politician also said Egypt needs social reconciliation, job creation and coexistence between Egypt’s Muslim majority and Christian minority.

Egypt and Germany appear to take steps to strengthen their relationship as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is also the CDU leader, has invited El-Sisi in mid-March to visit Germany following the completion of Egypt's delayed parliamentary elections.

Merekel’s invitation came after Egypt announced a $10.5 billion deal with German industrial giant Siemens to build power plants that will boost the country's electricity generation capacity by up to a third. The deal was announced in mid-March in Egypt’s Economic Development Summit.

In the aftermath of the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, Germany has expressed concerns regarding some of Egypt’s domestic policies.

In April 2014, Germany summoned Egyptian ambassador to protest against the mass death sentences handed to members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

"The hundreds of death sentences make a mockery of what we understand to be democratic principles," Foreign Minster Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement at the time.

Exclusive : Energy deals dominate second day of the Egyptian Economic Development Conference

Energy deal worth $12 billion signed with BP, with other contracts signed to build power stations,

Egypt's Finance Minister Hany Dimian (L-R), central bank governor Hisham Ramez, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Planning Minister Ashraf al-Arabi attend the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 14, 2015

17:15 Renowned Egyptian economist Mohamed El-Erian praised the economic conference via Twitter.

“A huge thank you to all who have worked so hard, and are working so hard to make #EEDC such a great success. Superb job,” he wrote.

17:00 Conference attendees have a taste of strawberries at a conference coffee break.

16:50 Minister of Trade and Industry Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour tells at the conference that Western countries felt threatened by the lack of stability in Egypt but have now been convinced to take part Egypt’s development.

“We are waiting to see the degree of their commitment,” he said.

Minster Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour speaks

16:45 Egypt has signed four agreements with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) worth a total of $800 million to finance four priority development projects for Egypt, according to a government press statement. 

The projects include an Egyptian-Saudi Electricity Connection project with lease financing of $220 million, the Sharm El-Sheikh Airport Development project with a first tranche of lease financing of $226.8 million and a second tranche of $230.2 million, and lease financing for "Assiut Refinery" of $198 million.

A framework agreement worth around $3 billion was signed between the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (an affiliate of the IDB Group) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to import petroleum products for the Egyptian market over the next three years.

15:50 British energy company BG will invest $4 billion in Egypt over the next two years, Reuters reports.

The company will sign an agreement with Egypt on the final day of the conference, said BG Chief Operating Officer Sami Iskander. 

15:45 The UAE’s Al Swidan Group signed two deals worth a total of $6 billion with Egypt to invest in the grain logistic hub in Damietta in Egypt’s Delta as well as in the Suez Canal Development Project.

Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafi said that the UAE’s Al Ghurair group has expressed its intention to acquire a third of the storage capacity in the grain hub, Reuters reports. Indian companies have also shown interest in the project intended to be a regional hub to store, trade and process grain.

15:35 Speaking in plenary, the CEO of Etisalat group, Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar, says that Egypt needs to develop its broadband capacity, to provide its citizens with faster broadband service.

Every Egyptian is entitled to broadband speeds of 21MB and over, he adds.

Etisalat’s Egypt arm is one of three existing mobile operators in the country.

15:30 five simultaneous panel sessions are taking place with Egyptian ministers and influential investors.

The topics of the sessions are:

1.Oil gas and mining

2.Housing, utilities and development

3.Information and communication technology

4.Industry and Manufacturing

5.Tourism

The IT session

15:20 The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation signed an agreement worth around $3 billion with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (an affiliate of the IDB Group) to import petroleum products for the Egyptian market over the next three years.

15:10 If you're looking for even closer coverage of the conference, you can check out the livestream here. 

15:00 Still to come after the lunch break are plenary sessions on the diversification of the Egyptian economy, the prospects for investment in Egypt, the role of international financial institutions in supporting Egypt's development, and then finally this evening the highly anticipated session giving details about the Suez Canal megaprojects. 

14:20 Egypt and Cyprus signed a memorandum of information exchange over the possible establishment of a natural gas pipeline extending from Cyprus’s Aphrodite field to Egypt, Egypt's Minister of Petroleum told Reuters. The study will be concluded by mid-2015.

Cyprus and Egypt agreed on November 2014 to accelerate talks on the potential export of Cypriot gas to Egypt.

14:10 Egypt will establish an independent regulator for the oil and gas sector “in six months or more” says the Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail.

14:00 The recently issued electricity law, which liberalises electricity production and transmission is a “huge milestone,” construction and fertilisers tycoon Nassef Sawiris tells one of the conference's side panels.

Sawiris’s Orascom Construction plans to build a $2.5 billion to $3 billion coal-fired power station on the Red Sea coast in partnership with Emirati-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

13:55 BP CEO Bob Dudley says his company was encouraged to make today’s $12 billion investment in Egypt after seeing what he described as the “cutting of red tape” over the past couple of months.

“We have gone through complex agreements, we believe we are secure… the flexibility, the attitude from many partners and government have been outstanding,” he said calling it a sign of change in business environment in Egypt.

Gas production from the $12 billion deal signed today will start in 2017, said Dudley.

13:50 Earlier today, there were a couple of big deals announced. Egypt signed an MOU with ACWA Power International of Saudi Arabia and Masdar of UAE to construct a number of power plants, including solar plants and a wind plant. The total investment will be $2.4 billion and the power plants will have a total production capacity of up to 4,400 megawatts.

In addition, Egypt signed a second MOU with ACWA Power International for the construction of a coal power plant. Investments total $7 billion and the production capacity will be 4,000 megawatts. The memorandums were signed in the presence of Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Saudi finance minister and Sultan Al-Jaber, UAE minister of state. 

Siemens International and Egypt's Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy also signed four MOUs worth $10 billion to construct several conventional power plants with a total production capacity of 6,600 megawatts, as well as a factory to produce equipment for wind energy farms and transformers, Reuters reports.

13:40 There is a lot happening, says . As well as speakers in the main hall, there are several other side events happening simultaneously, along with press conferences and closed meetings between key figures.

Outside the main chamber, CEOs rub shoulders with ministers. GE's vice president for healthcare in Africa, who said that he has been to lots of economic conferences but this is probably the highest attendance rate from multinationals and big businesses.

Another enthusiastic attendee is Britain's ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, who told that he was impressed by the positive atmosphere. He was also very pleased at BP's announcement of a new energy deal worth $12 billion, and he promises that there will be further announcements of British investments tomorrow.

13:30 President El-Sisi has just concluded a meeting with the French minister of finance, There'll be a press conference shortly.

13:20 the atmosphere is hectic and the mood upbeat. Around 1,500 people crammed into the main hall to watch Blair speak, while hundreds more mill around outside the chamber, networking, chatting, and swamping the booths set up by the sponsors of the event. The media have been allowed into the event and camera crews are everywhere.

Organisers told our reporter that they were originally expecting around 1,700 attendees, but the final number is around 3,500, and they had to stuff extra lines of chairs into the main hall to accomodate everyone. 

13:10  Former British prime minister Tony Blair has been speaking in the main room at the conference. He praised a number of recent decisions taken by the Egyptian government saying they have had a positive short term impact. He cited the new investment law, reforms on fuel subsidies, and the promotion of the private sector as examples of positive reforms.

But Egypt must also establish an open-minded and tolerant education system and empower women in the workforce, argues Blair.

Tony Blair speaks at the conference

13:00 Egypt will take legal steps to liberalise both the healthcare sector and the mining sector, Investment Minister Ashraf Salman announces at the panel where he is speaking. “The government and the country is committed to liberalising different sectors.” Egypt has recently passed a law opening up the electricity sector to private investors.

12:50 A video introducing the Egyptian government’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 was screened on Saturday at the Sharm El-Sheikh conference.

12:40 We need to fight bureaucracy and we also need to amend laws regulating business, particularly in relation to SMEs, argues telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris. He's speaking at a conference panel.

Ashraf Salman, the investment minister, is speaking at the same panel. He says some of the main challenges facing SMEs in Egypt are governance, documentation, and ratification of financial figures. He says the government established the Bedaya Fund to support SMEs.

12:30 Egypt needs a new law to protect citizens from governmental mistakes, argues Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris. Sawiris, speaking during a panel at the conference, accuses some members of the current government of being “conservative” and “uncreative”.

12:20 Egypt has just signed an energy deal with British Petroleum worth $12 billion over four years, reportedly the biggest single foreign investment in Egypt's history. 

BP CEO Bob Dudley (2nd from R) signs with Egypt's Petroleum Minster Sherif Ismail (L) a $12 billion investment deal, the biggest in Egypt's history during Egypt's Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Saturday, March 14, 2015

12:10 President El-Sisi and Dubai's leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum have just witnessed the contract signing for the project that will create Egypt's new capital city. You can watch a video giving details about the new administrative capital here.

12:00 The second day of Egypt's Economic Development Conference has begun with the government revealing details of its economic vision for Egypt to 2030.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab delivered an address followed by cabinet heads. 

The first day of the conference, Friday, saw Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman pledge $12.5 billion in aid to Cairo, in addition to a declaration of support by international leaders for Egypt in its war against terrorism.

Australia's premier thanks Egypt's El-Sisi for deporting jailed journalist Greste

Australian Al-Jazeera English journalist Peter Greste was released from a Cairo prison on Sunday

Tony Abbott

Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday that he appreciated the release and deporting of Australian Al-Jazeera English journalist Peter Greste, As reported.

In a phone call, Abbot also extended condolences to El-Sisi over the killing of at least 30 people in a militant attack in North Sinai last Thursday, and stressed Australia's full support to Egypt in its war on terrorism.

Greste, who had been jailed in Egypt for over 400 days on terrorism-related charges, left for his native Australia on Sunday.

A law passed in late 2014 allows for foreign prisoners to be transferred to their country of origin to either be retried or to complete their sentence.

Greste and two other Al Jazeera English journalists – Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed – were sentenced last June to between seven and ten years in jail for spreading false news and aiding the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr Fahmy (left) and Mr Mohamed remain in jail

They have been detained since December 2013.

The case, which was reset in Janaury for retrial, has caused an international outcry.

Peter Greste's parents have spearheaded the campaign for his release

In order to qualify for deportion as well, Egyptian-Canadian Fahmy gave up his Egyptian citizenship on Tuesday.

A presiential pardon for Baher, who only holds the Egyptian nationality, is uncertain.

Egyptian law stipulates that a presidential pardon can only be issued after final verdicts are reached.

#Egypt's #MOI preparing list of wrongly arrested youth to be released: #Sisi

The ministry of interior will also include those who were detained over minor charges



President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi gives a speech at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Egyptian interior ministry is preparing a list of young detainees who were wrongly arrested or have been detained over minor charges, to be released before the fourth anniversary of the 25 January uprising, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Monday.

Speaking during his visit to the UAE, the president said the list include all cases presented by the media as well as Egyptian organizations.

The list is currently being revised by the responsible entities, the president added.

Two of the detainees being considered for are young men serving three-year sentences for attempting to overthrow former president Mohamed Morsi, he said, without giving further details. .

Morsi was ousted in July 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

In a meeting with political parties last week, El-Sisi had asked party representatives to make a list of arrested youth who were unjustly arrested.

Since November 2013, hundreds of Islamists and liberals, including many students, have been arrested for violating a controversial law which mandates protestors to notify authorities at least three days ahead of protests.

The law stipulates heavy fines and prison sentences to its violators.

El-Sisi stated that the country is not "targeting" young people.

"On the contrary, I don't hesitate to select youth for (official) positions, as I've found them more daring, enthusiastic and able to work," he told journalists.