Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has affirmed that Cairo will continue to support the efforts of its brotherly nations to maximise benefits from the River Nile in a way that does no harm to the Egyptian people.

The president's statements came during his reception of the heads of delegations participating in Cairo Water Week (CWW) events in Cairo under the title ‘Water Conservation to Achieve Sustainable Development.’

The Cairo Water Week conference is being held from 14 to 18 October to discuss water related issues, and is hosting water experts, ministers and officials from 53 countries.

Egypt's presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady has said that the Egyptian president greeted the heads of delegations and international partners and organisations participating in the conference, stressing Egypt's keenness to host events that aim to raise awareness on water related issues.

The president also expressed Egypt's aspiration to enhance joint cooperation in this field and support coordination and exchange of expertise with various countries in the world, particularly on training courses, as well as projects to improve the utilisation of available water resources.

The heads of the delegations participating the conference reflected the importance of Cairo Water Week as an opportunity to discuss enhancing technical cooperation and building nations' capabilities to address water scarcity.

“The president affirmed that Egypt strongly believes in intercontinental cooperation and calls for not exploiting of water issues for political purposes, especially with the growing challenges facing the water sector in the world,” the presidential spokesperson said.

The president also highlighted the importance of enhancing cooperation with the brothers in the Nile Basin countries to serve mutual interests, without harming the interests of any other nation and in order to preserve the sustainability of the river.

"In this regard, the president demonstrated the efforts exerted by Egypt in the field of water conservation through a number of major projects such as establishing the world's largest water desalination plants, as well as the national project to bridge the food gap and maximise the use of land available for agriculture,” Rady added.

The president also pointed out that Africans are capable of achieving self-sufficiency in agricultural production if a network of roads and railways linking the continent's countries and cities is constructed to allow the exchange and transfer of crops.

The CWW is being held in cooperation with the European Union and the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation to tackle water issues amid climate change that impacts the world’s fresh water.

In March 2016, the United Nations Environment Program warned that 50 percent of the world’s population would face “severe water stress” by 2030.

The CWW focuses on climate change and environment, trans-boundary water governance, water scarcity, health, sanitation challenges and opportunities, as well as science and technology innovation issues.