President Abdel Fattah El Sisi visit to Sochi to attend the Russia-Africa Summit dominated the airwaves for the second consecutive night.

El Sisi’s summit opening remarks as the chair of the African Union were aired on Al Hayah Al Youm(watch, runtime: 2:35). The president invited Russian companies to up their investment on the continent and urged African countries to cooperate on cross-border transportation and communications links. The vice president of the Egyptian Council on African Affairs,Salah Halima, told show host Khaled Abu Bakr that the maiden summit is of “special importance” because of its potential to pave the way for a comprehensive Russian-African partnership (watch, runtime: 4:38).

El Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed are yet to hold their highly anticipated meeting, Abu Bakr noted. Ahmed on Tuesday raised the prospect of military action if the ongoing dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) continues to deteriorate.

El Sisi also held talks yesterday with his Vladimir Putin. We recap the meeting and more in this morning’s Speed Round, below.

Doubt cast on Russia as potential GERD mediator: As we wait to see what Russia is able to achieve on the GERD front, Russian expert Amr El Deeb told Abu Bakr that we shouldn’t expect too much. Why? Russia simply doesn’t have the influence over Ethiopia to force it to the table, making it more likely that it will be the US that will flex its diplomatic muscles and carve out an agreement (watch, runtime: 2:59). Egypt on Tuesday accepted an invitation from Washington that would bring together the foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan in an effort to end the dispute. We have more on this in this morning’s Egypt in the News.

Economic reform program hasn’t been great for the poverty rate, social solidarity minister admits: Austerity measures undertaken as part of the IMF-backed economic reform program were always going to push people into poverty, particularly after the 2007-2008 financial crisis and the revolution, Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Waly told Masaa DMC’s Ramy Radwan (watch, runtime: 3:25). Capmas figures revealed in July that the poverty rate increased to 32.5% in FY 2017-2018 from 27.8% in 2015. However, efforts to strengthen the social safety net spared the country from a full-scale poverty crisis, she said: “This increase could have been two times as bad if it weren’t social welfare programs.”

Sherif Amer goes undercover as taxi driver: Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer posed as a white cab driver yesterday to gauge people’s reactions and traffic (or lack thereof) on Cairo’s streets after heavy rainfall swept over the capital on Tuesday evening. Amer took a sewer expert on a ride to explain the drain process (watch, runtime: 2:08). He also drove around during the morning rush hours: here (watch, runtime: 4:13) and here (watch, runtime: 2:55).