The Minister of Environment and Natural resources Stanislas Kamanzi is scheduled to represent Rwanda in the Annual Nile Council of Ministers Meeting that commenced yesterday in Alexandria, Egypt.

Kamanzi joined Ministers in charge of Water Affairs from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda for a two-day meeting that will review progress, work plans and strategic documents and reports of the Nile Basin Initiative.

"Jose Endundo Bononge, the Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism of the DRC, who is completing his one-year term as Chair of NBI will pass the torch to Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Nasr El-Din Allam,” reads a statement from Nile Basin Initiative (NBI).

The chairmanship of the Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) is a rotational position among the Nile Basin countries.

This year’s Nile-Com meeting has been organized under the theme, ‘Nurturing Our Partnership for Prosperity’

The meeting comes at a time when member-states have vowed to ratify the Cooperative Framework Agreement – a pact that seeks to establish a permanent commission of the Nile Basin.

The basin is made up of countries that have access to the waters of River Nile, the longest river in the world.

Part of the achievements of NBI include some US$800 million of investments in the Portfolio on  projects such as the Egypt West Delta Irrigation Project, the Ethiopia Irrigation Project, power interconnection between Ethiopia and Sudan, as well as regional transmission projects in the Equatorial Lakes Region. 

An additional US$600 million worth of projects are being prepared such as the Rusumo Falls Hydro-electric and Multipurpose Project, Eastern Nile Planning Model, Eastern Nile Flood Preparedness and Early Warning-Phase 2.

Other projects include Bugesera Integrated Water and Irrigation Project, and Lakes Edward and Albert Fisheries Project.  Consequently, Nile cooperation is yielding close to US$1 billion in tangible benefits to the region.

According to NBI statement, at this 17th annual Nile-COM Meeting, members will emphasize the importance of a ‘United Basin’ approach to managing the River Nile to ensure the most effective development of the river for the citizens of the member states.

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