Nile Basin Countries to Establish Reserve Fund for Projects on Nile

Ministers in charge of Water Affairs from the Nile Basin countries this week endorsed the establishment of a Reserve Fund and other resource mobilization efforts so as to continue with the implementation of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) projects and programs.

The members have also endorsed the NBI Work Plan aimed at institutional strengthening for the period July 2011 to December 2012 with a budget of 14,440,827 US dollars, according to the press statement newbusinessethiopia.com received from Nile Basin office in Uganda.

In addition, the ministers have also reviewed progress made by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in the last fiscal year 2010/2011 and commended the 979 million US dollars investments being generated in development projects covering power interconnections, agriculture and watershed management.

Representatives from Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda met for the 19th ordinary Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) meeting under the theme: The Nile Basin – An imperative for Cooperation. The Republic of South Sudan participated as observer.

The Ministers agreed to convene an extra-ordinary Nile-COM meeting to discuss the CFA signing and its legal and institutional legal implications as requested by Egypt and Sudan during the 18th Nile-COM meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June 2010. As part of the agenda, the Extra-ordinary meeting will also discuss the position of South Sudan as a potential member of the NBI.