Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi headed on Sunday a National Defense Council meeting where they discussed the army's budget as well as a number of pending domestic and regional issues, Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. In the domestic field, the council discussed the security plan for the country in the next period, as well as measures taken by the cabinet to control the hiking prices of basic goods. El-Sisi ordered that any illegal attempt to monopolize commodities or increase their prices by merchants be thwarted. The council also discussed the latest efforts to eradicate a decade-long Islamist militant insurgency in North Sinai, which escalated three years ago. Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry discussed the results of the recent Paris peace conference to reinitiate Palestinian-Israeli talks.