Photo: Egypt's Ministry of foreign affairs official page
Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Hani Sewilam made the remarks during a coordination meeting on water diplomacy and relations with Nile Basin countries.
According to a joint statement, the ministers reviewed Egypt’s ties with Nile Basin states and discussed recent developments in the consultative process within the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), which has sought to restore consensus among member countries after years of division.
The two ministers reiterated Egypt’s commitment to cooperation and mutual benefit with all Nile Basin states, while stressing that development efforts must not undermine Egypt’s water security or violate international law governing shared waterways.
They again rejected what they called unilateral actions in the Eastern Nile Basin that contravene international law, without naming specific projects, and stressed the need to respect established legal principles regulating transboundary rivers.
The meeting underscored continued coordination between the foreign and water ministries to protect Egypt’s water security and to follow up on development projects across the basin, the statement said.
Officials also highlighted Egypt’s support for development in Nile Basin countries, particularly in the southern basin. They pointed to a $100 million financing mechanism to support development studies and projects, alongside the work of the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) and the Egyptian Initiative for the Development of Nile Basin Countries.
Egypt has implemented a range of water and infrastructure projects across the basin, according to the statement, including 28 solar-powered pumping stations in South Sudan, 180 groundwater wells in Kenya, 12 pumping stations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 10 wells in Sudan, 75 wells in Uganda, and 60 wells in Tanzania.
Additional projects include river berths and ground storage tanks in South Sudan and Uganda, rainfall forecasting centres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, a water-quality analysis laboratory, flood mitigation and aquatic weed control projects in Uganda, and technical studies and training programmes involving more than 1,650 trainees from 52 African countries.
Officials said the total cost of Egypt’s development and capacity-building projects in the Nile Basin has reached about $100 million.
The meeting follows recent remarks by Abdelatty, warning that Egypt would not accept the construction of new dams on the Nile without prior agreement and adherence to international law.
In a televised interview earlier this week, Abdelatty described water security as an existential issue for Egypt and said the country “will not relinquish a single drop” of its recognized water rights.
He said the state is pursuing a coordinated approach involving political, legal, diplomatic, economic, and commercial tools, adding that Egypt has no disputes with Nile Basin states except Ethiopia in the Eastern Nile Basin.
Abdelatty also described recent developments within the Nile Basin Initiative as a diplomatic breakthrough, noting that talks have resumed on the long-stalled Cooperative Framework Agreement, which would transform the NBI into a Nile Basin Commission.
He said negotiations had previously stalled due to divisions between Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea, which sought stronger protections for downstream states, and a bloc led by Ethiopia pushing terms Egypt considers unacceptable.
A ministerial meeting held this month in Burundi brought the two sides together for the first time in years, Abdelatty said, resulting in agreement by seven states to reopen the 2010 framework for amendments addressing downstream concerns.
“If consensus is reached, Egypt will return strongly to the initiative and support its transformation into a Nile Water Commission,” Abdelatty said. “Our basic principle is clear: Egypt cannot compromise or neglect its water rights.”
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