Irrigation minister says Nile River should serve as source of co-operation

DODOMA – Egypt’s Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Hani Sewilam has said the Nile River should serve as a source of co-operation and peace, not a cause for rivalry and disagreement.

Sewilam’s remarks came during a meeting here on Sunday with his Tanzanian counterpart Jumaa Aweso.

The irrigation minister said Egypt has always sought to play a pioneering role in strengthening cooperation among the Nile Basin countries, through promoting common interests and achieving mutual benefit for all parties.

Egypt believes that any country has the legitimate right to bring about development without causing harm to any other country, Sewilam added.

The irrigation minister reviewed the long-standing co-operation between Egypt and Tanzania in the field of water resources and irrigation, citing that 60 underground wells were drilled to provide drinking water for Kenyan areas suffering from water scarcity.

The two ministers discussed establishing development projects that directly benefit the Tanzanian people, where Aweso said his country looks forward to building dams for rainwater harvesting, in addition to digging underground wells.

Sewilam stressed Egypt’s keenness to cement economic co-operation with Tanzania, by encouraging Egyptian businessmen to contribute to advancing the development process in the African country.

The irrigation minister urged the Tanzanian government to open the door for Egyptian companies working in the areas of electricity, energy and infrastructure to carry out projects in the country a la the Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP), which was executed by an Egyptian consortium at a total cost of USD 2.9 billion to double Tanzania’s energy production, control floods and improve agriculture.

The irrigation minister stated that Egypt tabled an international initiative for accelerating climate change adaptation in the water sector during the activities of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, in co-operation with several international partners.

He explained that this initiative was the starting point for taking measures to face the impacts of climate change on the water sector.

Under this initiative, the Irrigation Ministry will work through its regional training center to train Tanzanian technical cadres on how to build and raise their capacities in countering climate change, Sewilam said.