Irrigation minister to take part in Entebbe meeting

Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Mohamed Abdel Ati will take part in the extraordinary meeting of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) ministerial council, to kick off in Entebbe later on Monday, according to a statement by the ministry.

The meeting will address Egypt's concerns that force it freeze its NBI activities since 2010.

Egypt had frozen its NBI membership after some Nile basin countries unilaterally signed the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) or the Entebbe Agreement without reaching a consensus on it first. 

The CFA, which has been signed by six Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) members so far, outlines principles, rights and obligations for cooperative management and development of the Nile Basin water resources through a permanent institutional mechanism.

Egypt hopes that Nile basin countries would put into consideration its concerns and reach an agreement on controversial clauses in the CFA.

Egypt wants to amend three clauses in the agreement. The first amendment calls for upstream countries to notify Egypt before starting any project along the Nile. The second one defines the concept of water security, which includes recognizing Egypt's quota of the Nile's water, and the third calls for all decisions to be made in consensus with all basin countries.

Source: MENA