Egypt keen on cooperation with Nile basin countries

Egypt is keen to promote cooperation with Nile basin countries and pass on its technical expertise to support development projects there, Water Resources Minister Hossam Moghazi has said.
"Official visits are constantly exchanged between Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania and other Nile basin countries," Moghazi said in statements on Sunday.
Egypt's technical support and cooperation with Uganda aimed to provide safe drinking water to nearly 200,000 Ugandan citizens living in deprived and remote villages, he said.
Projects covered under a $20.4 million Egyptian grant to Uganda included digging water wells in villages and fighting invasive aquatic weed in tropical lakes, he said.
The Egyptian grant also covered the establishment of 12 dams and water reservoirs, the development of village banks overlooking the African Great Lakes and the construction of several river berths and four fisheries, Moghazi said.
Ugandan Water and Environment Minister Ephraim Kamuntu will visit Egypt at the end of this month.