It was a busy Wednesday at the cabinet: The ministers spent yesterday greenlighting a bunch of draft decisions and agreements across a variety of sectors, according to a cabinet statement.

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#1- Fresh energy agreements: The cabinet approved five concession agreements that will see no less than USD 225.3 mn invested to drill at least 40 wells in areas including the Eastern and Western Deserts.

The players: The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope), and a number of undisclosed international oil companies.

#2- Three new logistic zones in the pipeline: The ministers also passed a draft presidential decree allocating land plots in Qena, Matrouh, and Toshka to the General Authority for Land and Dry Ports to set up logistics zones.

#3- Expanding Safaga Port: The cabinet approved a draft presidential decree allocating state-owned plots in the Red Sea Governorate to the General Authority for Red Sea Ports to carry out planned expansions to Safaga Port. The expansion includes a new multipurpose container terminal and a logistics zone.

#4- A move to make Egypt greener: The cabinet also passed a draft decision extending the Extended Producer Responsibility — a policy that makes producers fully responsible for their products throughout their entire lifecycle — to plastic shopping bags. The draft decision will require manufacturers and importers of plastic shopping bags to track their sales through the National System for Waste Information and Data Management and enhance safe disposal methods. The draft decision will also introduce incentives for importing and producing eco-friendly alternatives.

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