CAIRO, Sept 30 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued on Tuesday a decree necessitating the defence minister's prior consent to any arms import deals.

The presidential decree amends Articles 12 and 16 of the law 394/1954 concerning weapons and ammunition. The amendment to Article 12 also stipulates that the defence ministry decides the amount of weaponry allowed for import.

The old version of the article stated that the interior minister's permission is needed before the import, trade, production or repair of weapons listed in the first article of the same law. The interior minister could also delegate someone to grant such permit, as per the same article.

The amendment keeps the aforementioned clause, yet it adds a separate clause about the necessity of defence minister's permission for arms import.