Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam held talks with Dutch Water Envoy Meike van Ginneken on ways to strengthen cooperation between Egypt and the Netherlands in the water sector.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the high-level preparatory meeting for the 2026 UN Water Conference, in the presence of Egyptian ambassador to Senegal Khaled Aref.
The two sides reviewed progress on the project “Modernizing Irrigation Techniques to Improve the Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in Upper Egypt,” which is being implemented in partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and funded by the Dutch government.
They also discussed activating a memorandum of understanding between the ministry and Dutch organization Invest International to conduct a feasibility study identifying hotspots along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, to be protected using environmentally friendly sand nourishment techniques.
The meeting also covered the second phase of the Egypt–Netherlands the Joint Cooperation for Applied Research (JCAR II) programme, as well as the status of a study on the intensive reuse of water resources.
The Dutch side expressed its readiness to coordinate with Egypt during the third interactive water dialogue, co-chaired by Egypt and Japan.
For his part, Sewilam stressed the importance of continued coordination between Egypt and the Netherlands in international forums in support of global water and climate issues.
