Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam and Sudanese Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Esmat Qirshi Abdallah visited the authority’s headquarters on the Dabaa Axis.
They were received by Bahaa El-Ghannam, head of the Future of Egypt Authority for Sustainable Development.
The visit comes as Egypt and Sudan increase cooperation following agreements reached in late December during meetings of the Egyptian–Sudanese Joint Trade and Industry Committee. These agreements approved a set of measures aimed at speeding up Sudan’s reconstruction and strengthening economic ties between the two countries.
Speaking during the tour, Sewilam said the joint visit reflected the “strong fraternal relations” between Egypt and Sudan. He praised Egypt’s completion of the New Delta agricultural drainage water treatment plant, describing it as the largest of its kind in the world, with a capacity of up to 7.5 million cubic metres per day.
A statement from the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said both ministers praised the Future of Egypt Authority’s role in promoting integrated economic development, making better use of natural resources, and supporting agro-industries and modern storage systems, in line with national sustainable development goals.
El-Ghannam said the authority is studying the implementation of development projects in Sudan, preparing a comprehensive plan for proposed initiatives, and organizing joint workshops to carry out market studies. These efforts aim to transfer Egyptian expertise and support capacity-building in Sudan.
The steps align with decisions taken in December, when Egypt and Sudan agreed to prioritize Egyptian companies in Sudan’s reconstruction projects, provide technical support to restart Sudanese factories damaged by the war, and begin training Sudanese customs officials starting in January 2026.
Under the same framework, the two sides agreed to form a technical working group to boost bilateral trade, identify priority goods, align technical standards for traded products, and create a system for mutual recognition of conformity certificates to facilitate trade.
The agreements also include studying a memorandum of understanding between Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones and Sudan’s National Investment Authority. The aim is to strengthen investment cooperation, transfer Egyptian expertise, particularly in free-zone management and one-stop-shop services, and establish a logistics zone along the Egyptian–Sudanese border.
Egyptian officials said these initiatives are part of Cairo’s broader efforts to support reconstruction in Sudan, where fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has entered its third year, leaving millions in need of humanitarian assistance.
During the visit, the ministers attended a presentation on the Future of Egypt Authority’s nationwide land-reclamation projects. These projects use modern irrigation systems to improve water efficiency and link agricultural expansion with food processing, livestock, aquaculture, and logistics infrastructure.
The delegation later toured the New Delta project, inspected wheat, potato and fruit cultivation sites, and visited a grain silos complex with a storage capacity of 500,000 tons, as well as a specialized cold-storage facility for agricultural products, the statement added.
In recent years, Egypt has stepped up efforts to manage its limited water resources and protect long-term water security through major infrastructure projects, policy reforms, and advanced irrigation technologies.
A key part of this approach is the reuse of treated agricultural drainage water, particularly through large projects such as the New Delta treatment system. These efforts are supported by expanded desalination, canal-lining programmes, and a nationwide shift towards modern, water-efficient irrigation methods.
The measures aim to maximize water productivity, reduce losses, and help agriculture adapt to growing water stress, as Egypt faces long-standing challenges as a downstream Nile country amid the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia.
These policies also provide a basis for deeper cooperation with Sudan, which faces similar challenges related to Nile flow changes and the broader impact of the dam on irrigation planning, flood management, and agricultural stability.
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