It’s an exceptionally quiet news morning at home and abroad, and we took advantage to roll out a little piece of technology (entirely behind the scenes) that will add new functionality to our website for the first 100 beta users of our forthcoming Enterprise One service. Starting when we roll out, only subscribers to Enterprise One, our paid service focusing on actionable business intelligence, will be able to view our full archive of stories by theme and subject. That’s sorted access to more than 14 mn words words about Egypt…

** #1 Nearly 50 US companies are arriving in town today for a three-day visit to kick the tires on new business opportunities in Egypt, according to a presser on the delegation (pdf). AmCham, the US Chamber of Commerce, the US-Egypt Business Council, and the Egypt-US Business Council will hold ministerial panel discussions on Wednesday, 24 October and Thursday, 25 October featuring Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and nine other members of cabinet. Set to speak:

• Trade and Industry Minister Amr Nassar
• Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik
• Planning Minister Hala El Said
• Finance Minister Mohamed Maait
• Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy
• Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr
• Military Production Minister Mohamed El Assar
• CIT Minister Amr Talaat
• Oil Minister Tarek El Molla

PepsiCo Egypt is also set to announce today its investment plans over the coming four years, including the installation of new production lines and the expansion of its facilities in Egypt, according to an emailed statement (pdf).

One of us will be hovering around the margins of the delegation and will report back in Speed Round starting tomorrow.

Health Minister Hala Zayed and Tourism Minister Rania Al Mashat are scheduled to appear before the House of Representatives today, according to Ahram Online. MPs are expected to question Zayed about the quality of health services offered at public hospitals and rural medical centers. Al Mashat, meanwhile, will brief MPs on the government’s new overseas promotional campaign, which was announced earlier this month.

House of Representatives begins discussing RIZ agreement today: The House will begin discussing the contracts to establish the USD 7 bn Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ) today, Al Mal reported. The agreement, which Egypt and Russia finally signed in May, is one of 10 Speaker Ali Abdel Aal referred to relevant parliament committees for review yesterday after they were approved by the Legislative Committee. The agreements also included one with FAO over a water development project, and a EUR 243 mn loan from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund to finance Egypt’s contract with South Korea to supply 32 metro cars.

Maybe Ali Abdel Aal and Jake Paul could do co-branded merch? The House of Representatives plans to launch a YouTube channel to broadcast its news and “other key public announcements,” Ahram Gate reports. Don’t hold your breath for the House to decide to air sessions direct to the streaming video service or to traditional broadcast TV.

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait is among the headliners at a conference on Sukukset to get underway this morning. Along with other government officials and attendees from the financial world, participants will discuss “the fundamentals of activating a sukuk market and the timeframe for creating an appropriate climate for issuing sukuk” as well as the potential for sukuk in Egypt based on experience in other markets including Dubai.

Turkey is trying to use the Khashoggi affair to “change the balance of power” in the Middle East. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to reveal during a speech today new details about the murder of dissident Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s while inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, Reuters says. Turkey — which for weeks now has claimed to possess evidence that incriminates Saudi officials — is playing a calculated hand, using the incident as a “a catalyst for changing the balance of power in Saudi Arabia and regaining influence across the Middle East,” according to Bloomberg. Saudi authorities have yet to put out an official story, saying only that “rogue” agents were responsible and that an investigation ios ongoing.

MbS meets Mnuchin ahead of investment conference: While Germany decided to halt arms exports to Saudi to pressure it to come clean about the murder, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman yesterday in Riyadh, ahead of an investment conference that gets underway today. World leaders and top executives have largely distanced themselves from the conference, among them IMF Director Christine Lagarde, JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was also in Riyadh yesterday to deliver a message to King Salman from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Amr Adib said on El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 1: 36). Diplomatic sources also tell Al Shorouk that the two officials would discuss a number of “high-priority issues” of mutual interest between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

A quick request this morning: Could we please stop saying we are having “conversations around” something? This new addition to our collective speech pattern is vague bull[redacted]. We may have a conversation “about something,” but if we’re talking “around” something it means we’re avoiding the subject — or (at best) discussing it indirectly / nibbling at its margins, but not fully engaging with it.

PSA- We could be in for blowing sand and rain across Egypt this weekend, the head of the Meteorological Authority’s analysis unit tells Masrawy. Spells of heavy rain and blowing sand could start on Thursday and Friday from the north coast and travel south to Cairo and Sinai. Expect peak temperatures in Cairo today and tomorrow to hit 34°C, while Thursday and Friday will see a milder 29°C and 27°C, respectively.