Nile Basin Water Ministers to meet in Entebbe, Uganda

ENTEBBE, Uganda – Ministers in charge of Water Affairs in the Nile Basin countries are due to meet on 14 July, 2016 in Entebbe, Uganda in the 24th Annual Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) meeting.

The Ministers will deliberate on the status of the Nile cooperation and how to move it forward.

They will also review progress made by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in the previous fiscal year, consider programs and projects as well as the work plan and budget for the coming year and provide strategic guidance.

The meeting will also witness a change in the top leadership of NBI, with the position of chairman of the Nile Council of Ministers moving from Tanzania to Uganda. Accordingly, the current chairman Hon. Eng. Gerson Lwenge Tanzania’s Minister of Water and Irrigation will hand over to Uganda’s Minister of Water and Environment.

The change in leadership is in keeping with the NBI tradition of rotating the position of chairman of the Nile-COM among the 10 Member States on an annual basis. The rotation follows the alphabetical order of the names of the countries.

The 24th Nile-COM meeting will be preceded by the 46th Nile-Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC) meeting. The Nile-TAC which comprises technical representatives from NBI Member States oversees the work of NBI and offers technical support and advice to the Nile-COM on matters related to the cooperative management and development of the shared Nile Basin water resources.

The Nile-TAC, NBI management, Representatives of Development Partners and the civil society will participate in 24th Nile-COM meeting as observers.