Topic #1 on the airwaves last night- Gov’t launches plan to promote spinning and weaving: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi summoned Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Public Enterprise Minister Hisham Tawfik, and other senior officials to discuss a plan to improve efficiency in state-owned spinning and weaving factories (watch, runtime: 1:07). Heads of holding companies and seven EU-based textile majors were also in attendance.

State-owned spinning and weaving factories will soon be getting north of EGP 10 bn-worth of machinery, Tawfik told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Khaled Abu Bakr in a phone-in (watch, runtime 6:24). “We are in the process, and have installed the first [modern] cotton mill,” Tawfik added, noting that there’s a parallel move to sell unused state-owned land for funding. The overall plan is expected to cost some EGP 20 bn as it will involve civil, renovation, and utility works in factories. The government will receive the first shipment of machinery in early 2020, with the plan slated for completion in 2.5 years. The plan will also see 23 companies merged into 10.

Another popular topic was agricultural exports. El Hekaya’s Amr Adib presented a recent government infographic showing a boom in Egyptian agricultural exports (watch, runtime: 3:18). We have the key figures in Diplomacy + Foreign Trade, below.