It was another mixed bag on the airwaves last night, with no single story dominating the conversation.Pundits touched on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) meeting in Sharm this week and the Chinese delegation’s visit to Egypt yesterday. Meanwhile, El Hekaya’s Amr Adib was the sole host to cover yesterday’s disappointing GERD negotiations in Ethiopia. More on this in this morning’s Diplomacy section, below.

AIIB > IMF + World Bank, says economist: Lobna Asal interviewed economist Mostafa Badra on Al Hayah Al Youm about the AIIB meeting in Egypt, which will be the first time it is hosted in Africa (watch, runtime: 6:40). Badra compared the China-led multilateral lender favorably to Western financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, saying that it does not attach political conditions and offers lower interest rates. Masaa DMC also dedicated airtime to the two-day meeting, which starts today (watch, runtime: 2:37).

The Chinese are here: Former assistant foreign minister Mohamed Hegazy phoned in to Al Hayah Al Youm to discuss yesterday’s arrival of a Chinese political and business delegation for talks with President El Sisi (watch, runtime: 6:17). Hegazy highlighted Egypt’s role in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, and said that the two countries can work together to establish a trade route to rival the proposed India-Gulf-Europe route announced at the recent G20 summit. Masaa DMC also had coverage (watch, runtime: 0:47). We have more on the visit in the Diplomacy section, below.

ALSO- This MP really likes corporal punishment: Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi interviewed MP Amal Abdel Hamid about her controversial calls for bringing back corporal punishment in schools — an idea that didn’t receive a ringing endorsement from the show host. (watch, runtime: 5:11).

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