Madbouly & Co’s statements to the House were the top story on the airwaves last night, while President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s trip to Jordan also got significant play.

Policy continuity was the order of the day as Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly addressed the new class of MPs for the first time yesterday. Madbouly reiterated the importance of the House of Representatives’ role in supporting the Egyptian people through circumstances such as covid-19 and protecting national security and recapped the his government’s recent successes such as the economic reform program, lowering inflation, and pursuing a handful of national projects.

The priority over the next three years: Getting the economy back on track after last year’s covid shock. The government wants to achieve an annual growth rate of 6%, double exports, and complete a raft of infrastructure projects over the next three years, the PM said.

Taking notes were Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 1:51), Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 3:19), and Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 1:38) all had coverage.

The supply and local development ministers addresses don’t seem to have gone down too well: The airwaves were full of criticism the Supply minister Ali El Moselhy and Local Development Minister Mahmoud Sharawy, who were the first cabinet ministers to address the chamber yesterday. Rep. Tarek Radwan told Al Hayah Al Youm's Lobna Assal that parliament criticized El Moselhy for shortages of (subsidized) food staples while Shawary was rebuked for not using World Bank funds to finance development projects in Sohag (watch, runtime: 7:19). Speaking on Msaa DMC, Rep. Mohamed El Komy said much of the supply minister’s achievements had come when collaborating with different ministries and said that the House criticized him for past controversial statements (watch, runtime: 3:45). Speaking on Ala Mas’ouleety, Rep. Mohamed Badrawi gave El Moselhy a 7/10 and Sharawy a modest 6/10 (watch, runtime: 9:29).

MPs were in Lamees’ firing line as the queen of nighttime talk criticized them for failing wear masks and keep their distance from one another (watch, runtime: 1:12).

Meanwhile, in Amman: Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 13:16), Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 10:55), and Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 7:19) gave airtime to the president’s visit to Jordan to talk Palestine with King Abdullah. We have more on this in Around the World, below.