What we’re tracking on 25 October, 2016
It’s the final day for a visiting US business delegation representing more than 54 companies. Speaking with the delegation today are Oil Minister Tarek El Molla, Energy Ministry Mohamed Shaker and Suez Canal Economic Zone chief Ahmed Darwish. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s meeting with the delegation yesterday is front-page news in Al Ahram, which carries the Arabic version of a meeting readout from Ittihadiya quoting David Thorne, an advisory to US Secretary of State John Kerry, as saying the delegation emphasizes America’s support for Egypt’s bid for a USD 12 bn loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Four key members of the cabinet economic group met with the delegation yesterday. We have coverage of what they had to say in a special Spotlight (below, just after Speed Round).
Also this morning: We have a rundown of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail’s highly anticipated interview with Lamees El Hadidi in a special installment of Last Night’s Talk Shows, below.
To make room for everything, today’s Industry News and Calendar sections appear only on our website. We’ll be back tomorrow with coverage of today’s gathering as well as of a press conference to be attended by senior reps of the State Department, the US Chamber of Commerce and AmCham.
In addition to the US delegation, Al Ahram’s digital edition also gives front-page space this morning to Prime Minister Sherif Ismail’s attendance of a signing ceremony for a package of European Investment Bank funding for Egyptian transportation infrastructure and port programs and to the PM’s latest admonishment to his cabinet that the economic reform program must be structured to as to make sure the poor aren’t crushed by inflation.
A multi-party youth conference formally gets underway in Sharm El Sheikh this morning The Conservative, Salafist Al-Nour and (occasionally) liberal Wafd party will all be sending delegates. The gathering takes place under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Ahram Online has more.
The Reuters Middle East Investment 2016 summit runs this week. The virtual summit takes the form of interviews with major figures in the business community across MENA. We have coverage of yesterday’s interviews in Speed Round, below, or you can jump straight to their landing page here.
** We’ll have the results of our first-ever reader poll later today in a separate email for your reading pleasure. We’ll announce the names of our 20 mug-winners in Thursday morning’s edition.