{"id":594263,"date":"2019-10-24T03:57:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T03:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/10\/24\/what-were-tracking-on-24-october-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-10-24T03:57:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T03:57:00","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-24-october-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/10\/24\/what-were-tracking-on-24-october-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 24 October 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Russia-Africa summit wraps up in Sochi today.<\/b> The opening day saw lots of talk but little in the way of action. Discussions were had on trade and investment, the Russian Industrial Zone and the resumption of Russian flights to Sharm (no breakthrough there \u2014 we have more on President El Sisi\u2019s meeting with Putin in this morning\u2019s Speed Round, below).<\/p>\n

So, will El Sisi and Abiy Ahmed meet today? <\/b>Heading into the summit we weren\u2019t quite sure what the schedule was for the president\u2019s anticipated meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Tension on that front ratcheted up earlier this week when Ahmed said that Ethiopia could mobilize \u201cmns\u201d in the event of war with Egypt. It\u2019s unsurprising, then, that there was nothing but radio silence on the GERD front.<\/p>\n

Also still an open question: Will Ethiopia accept Washington\u2019s offer to mediate<\/b> the dispute? Egypt suggested yesterday that it would accept the invitation to talks with Ethiopia and Sudan in the US capital, but there\u2019s been radio silence on the Ethiopian front.<\/p>\n

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A couple of quick event-related notes:<\/p>\n

Cairo Water Week<\/b><\/a> wraps up today, as does the Intelligent Cities Exhibition & Conference<\/b><\/a> at the Hilton Heliopolis.<\/p>\n

The IMF and AUC will be holding a discussion on the World Economic Outlook <\/b>on Tuesday, 29 October from 1-3pm at Moataz Al Alfi Hall on AUC\u2019s New Cairo campus. The talk, headlined \u201cWorld Economic Outlook: Global manufacturing downturn, rising trade barriers\u201d will be presented by Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, deputy director at the IMF\u2019s research department.<\/p>\n

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Capitalizing on low borrowing costs, Saudi eyes USD 2.5 bn sukuk issuance: <\/b>Saudi Arabia is planning a USD 2.5 bn sukuk (sharia-compliant bonds) issuance as the kingdom looks to capitalize on borrowing costs hitting their lowest level in four years, according to Bloomberg<\/a>. The 10-year notes will be priced somewhere between 145 and 150 bps over the benchmark mid swap rate, a source familiar with the matter tells the news information service. The issuance should be enough to cover Saudi\u2019s funding requirements to plug its budget deficit.<\/p>\n

Other international stories worth knowing about:<\/p>\n