The Trump administration’s decision to withhold some aid to Egypt is “contradictory” tothe “strategic and vital” nature of the two countries’ ties, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told Hona Al Asema’s Lama Gebril, who’s filling for Lamees Al Hadidi. Abu Zeid also attributed the decision to pressure from American civil society and media, downplaying Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s initial reaction to cancel a scheduled meeting with White House envoy Jared Kushner. He said Shoukry’s schedule is revised several times each day (watch, runtime 6:54).

Meanwhile on Masaa DMC, host Osama Kamal and Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabilhad a chat about the newly-issued Industrial Permits Act. The minister talked mostly about the law assisting in the growth of industry by cutting down the timeframe for acquiring permits. The previous 600-day average had fueled the country’s informal economy, he said (watch, runtime 9:28).

Kamal then dove into Caterwings’ 2017 Meat Price Index, which we said yesterday ranks Egypt as the fifth-cheapest country in the world to purchase meat. This is likely due to the Armed Forces jumping in “fill the market gap,” Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce butcher’s division deputy Haitham Abdel Baset told Kamal (watch, runtime 4:22).

Over on Yahduth fi Misr, Sherif Amer and political analyst Mostafa El Fekki picked up where they last left off on the prospects of extending the president’s term in office to six years from four. Their discussion came as “the Higher Council for Judges announced that members of the National Election Commission that will be responsible for supervising Egypt’s 2018 presidential election had been selected,” according to Ahram Online.