The talking heads were mostly preoccupied last night with the “Story of a Nation” conference that kicked off yesterday, where President Abdel Fattah El Sisi gave his state of the nation address (more on that in the Speed Round below).

El Sisi’s address at the conference paid homage to the steps the Egyptian populace has taken since the 2011 uprising, Ittihadiya spokesperson Bassam Rady told Masaa DMC’s Osama Kamal. This train of thought was a segue to the Ismail government’s economic reform program, which El Sisi stressed yielded positive results thanks to Egyptians’ patience with the difficulties (watch, runtime: 13:56).

The president’s speech also touched on the role the country’s youth played in growing the economy through SMEs, and he told viewers that the state listened to its youth through regular conferences, Cairo University political science professor Tarek Fahmy told Hona Al Asema’s stand-in host Reham Ibrahim (watch, runtime: 10:58).

Kol Youm’s Amr Adib said he was particularly impressed with El Sisi’s train of thought in the speech, which he said was clear and consistent (watch, runtime: 3:01).

Adib also praised Egypt and Ethiopia’s planned establishment of a joint investment council, which he said will both improve investments and nudge along stalled negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, since it will bridge the gap between the two countries’ interests (watch, runtime: 6:32).

Back on Masaa DMC, Agriculture Export Council head Abdel Hamid El Demerdash said that Saudi Arabia’s ban on Egyptian guava imports is part of the ripple effect from the hepatitis A scare caused by Egyptian strawberries back in 2016. GCC countries have since moved to tighten inspection and testing procedures on their imports of Egypt’s agricultural products, El Demerdash said. The Agriculture Ministry is currently working alongside the council to implement more stringent regulations on domestic farms to avoid getting into such situations (watch, runtime: 9:00).

Public Enterprises Minister Khaled Badawy also phoned in to tell Kamal that some public sector companies need to undergo significant reforms to become profitable again, while others are beyond hope and would only drain state resources. He said that the currently healthy rate of economic growth is a good way to decipher the future of these companies, and that a company that cannot improve its performance in the current economic environment is unlikely to improve at any other point in time (watch, runtime: 6:32).

Over on Al Hayah Al Youm, Tamer Amin hosted Consumer Protection Agency head Atef Yacoub for yet another segment of praising the Supply Ministry’s price-printing policy. Yacoub also said that his agency is working on new regulations that will whip the market into shape (watch, runtime: 30:06).