More than 500 participants from ten Nile Basin countries including Rwanda and the international community are in Kigali for the fifth Nile Basin Development Forum. The two-day forum will see Nile Basin Initiative member states work to improve cooperation for the sustainable development of the Basin.
At the opening ceremony for the forum, Rwanda’s Minister of Environment, Vincent Biruta, said all countries need to work together to ensure the sustainability of the Nile Basin.
“Water security is one of the key challenges of our time and we need to work together to manage this precious and shared resource. Indeed, shared challenges need shared solutions. To member states countries represented here today, I commend the efforts you are making to advance cooperation on water management through the Nile Basin Initiative,” Minister Biruta said.
Nile Basin countries have been working together to protect and sustain the basin since 1967. This cooperation was formalised with the creation of the Nile Basin Initiative in 1999.
The initiative aims to ensure efficient water management and the optimal use of the resource in the Nile Basin. The Initiative is an intergovernmental partnership of ten Nile Basin countries including Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, The Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Eritrea participates as an observer.
Rwanda ratified the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement in 2012.
The Express News
