GASC wants to buy wheat — from just about anyone. State wheat buyer GASC is floating a tender to import wheat today, Supply Minister Mohamed Ali Elsheikh, Al Mal reports. He said the tender is for wheat “of any origin,” removing the restriction that Egypt source cargoes only from one of the 13 “approved” countries of origin. Elsheikh did not specify the size of the tender. Traders speaking to Al Borsa were skeptical that GASC would receive any offers under the current zero tolerance policy on ergot, adding that the risk of rejection upon inspection for ergot is enough to turn away any potential shipments. The tender is for delivery between 16-26 October, Reuters’ Arabic service says. GASC’s last wheat import tender was on Friday and closed with no offers.

El Sisi to meet Trump, Clinton: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is scheduled to meet with US presidential candidates Donald Trump in New York today, Reuters reports, citing Walid Phares, “a foreign policy advisor to Trump.” Hillary Clinton’s campaign had announced last week that she would meet El Sisi, who is in NYC for the 71st UN General Assembly Meeting. The story leads the front page of state-owned Al Ahram today. The Associated Press’s Hamza Hendawi writes that “Authorities in Egypt are pulling out all the stops to ensure that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi’s visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly is a diplomatic success despite growing criticism of the country’s human rights record under his rule.” El Sisi arrived in New York yesterday and has already met with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, Youm7 reports. The president stopped in Venezuela on the way to New York for a meeting of theNon-Aligned Movement (yes, it still exists…). Al Ahram has a full transcript of the president’s remarks.

(That Trump advisor, Phares, claims to have been in Egypt recently for meetings with Sheikh Al Azhar and the “religious affairs” minister — we’re presuming he means the Minister of Awqaf.)

The two-day Euromoney Egypt conference, held at the Semiramis Intercontinental, kicks off this morning. Finance Minister Amr El Garhy will deliver the keynote this morning starting at 9:10am, while International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr will be on stage for a “conversation with Euromoney” immediately after El Garhy’s remarks wrap at 9:50am. Tuesday gets underway when Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil takes the stage for a 40-minute chat starting at 9am. The latest agenda (pdf) does not include Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, who was originally scheduled to speak tomorrow. Also off the list: Investment Minister Dalia Khorshid.

Arqaam Capital’s MENA Investors Conference 2016 gets underway today at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Dubai; Deputy Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk will give a keynote. Also this morning: Bank of America Merrill Lynch will hold its Global Consumer and Retail Conference in London.

Public service announcement: You’re on the hook for VAT for any invoice issued on or after 8 September. Call your auditor and your advisory firm. The VAT has been the law of land since it was published on the Official Gazette on 8 September, a copy of which ran on Al Borsa. Today. Advertising is now VAT-exempt: The list of goods and services exempt from the VAT has risen to 57 from the original list of 56 approved by the House of Representatives with the addition of advertising yesterday. The Finance Ministry has also released the new model tax return filings form

Shameless iSheep video of the day: We’ll blather on about the iPhone 7 / 7 Plus in the Weekend Edition this coming Friday, but in the meantime: Apple’s released three videos yesterday promoting the device. They’re all good, but one is absolutely killer. (watch, runtime: 0:31).

What about first Emmy for you, he3? What about that. Big congratulations are in order for Egyptian-American actor Rami Malek, who won his first Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role in the hit show Mr. Robot at last night’s 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards. We’d first noted the television series, headed by Egyptian-American executive producer Sam Esmail, as our Worth Watching in our 6 July 2015 issue, about a week and a half after the series premiered. Esmail had said at the time that the inspiration for the show was in part from his “personal experience with the Arab Spring, specifically in Egypt.” Watch Rami Malek accept his Emmy award from last night’s ceremony. The young woman in the necklace in the audience filming him is his cousin. Forgive the video quality. (Watch, running time: 1:34) (Warning: The video could disappear at any time due to copyright restrictions, but it’s worth the risk to give the link a tap.)