Meeting of Eastern Nile Basin countries’ ministers at Bibliotheca Alexandrina
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Alexandria, 16 February 2005—Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) hosted the third day of the 19th ENCOM Meeting (13-19 February), of the electricity and energy ministers from the Eastern Nile Basin countries (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia).
The participants of the meeting were HE Shiferaw Jarso, Ethiopian Minister of Water Resources; HE Haile Asegide, Ethiopian Minister of Infrastructure and Planning; HE Joseph Dong, Sudanese Minister of Electricity; HE Mahmoud Abu Zeid, Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources; HE Hassan Younis, Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy; HE Ahmed El Maghraby, Egyptian Minister of Tourism; General Abdel Salam EL Mahgoub, Governor of Alexandria; Dr. Mohamed Abd Ala, President of Alexandria University; and Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of BA.
The ministers expressed their gratefulness to BA for hosting a day of meetings for an enormous project that combines the three countries of the Nile basin.
The meetings aim to reach social sustainable development and utilize the use of the Nile’s water, bearing in mind the other sources of energy that could cover all the needs of the continent while still exporting the rest to Europe.
Dr. Abu Zeid stated that the Nile has many unexplored potential and idle resources that could be exploited to reach a level of prosperous of the countries involved. These resources can be used for project related to water, energy, tourism, maritime and others.
The Ethiopian and the Sudanese ministers declared that the collaboration of the three countries will increase the water resources that could then be distributed among rural areas from which they can benefit, resulting in an increase in job opportunities and income which will raise their standard of living.
During the meeting, HE Hassan Younis, Egyptian Minister of Electricity, shed light on the increase of the Egyptian need for electricity over time and how the government is setting plans for the establishment of more stations of electric generators. He also added that Egypt has specialists and professionals in the field of electricity which can be exchanged with and benefit the other countries.
The participants affirmed that this collaboration will lead to the development of the Nile basin countries and the accomplishment of higher living standards and economic cohesion.
During the meeting, they also discussed and followed up the proposals made at the ministerial meetings in Addis Ababa in 2003. It was also agreed upon that the African Development Bank is to fund the researches carried out on the projects related to the trading of energy in the Nile basin countries. They appointed the advisors who will prepare the proposals of the projects and discussed the future phases of the project as well as the need for new mechanisms of communication between electricity companies in the three countries for the efficient exchange of information and experience.
Dr. Serageldin concluded that the ministerial meetings discussed the collaboration of the three countries in the fields of water, electricity, energy and the exchange of experience in water and irrigation administration. He added that the meetings moved very smoothly and with great success. This has changed all the expectations and has built a level of trust among the countries and the only thing that is left is to start implementing the projects.
By the end of the meeting, General Abdel Salam El Mahgoub, granted a small crystal replica of BA as a gift to all the ministers, as well as Mr. David Gray, the World Bank Representative supervising the conference, for their efforts made in reaching this success in spite of all the obstacles they faced before.
A press conference was held at the end of the meeting to answer all the questions during which, Dr. Hassan Younis mentioned that the main obstacle for the project is the funding and that the collaboration of the three countries will enhance social and economic development.
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| Ministers during the meeting |
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General Abdel Salam El Mahgoub
presenting tokens |