On Sunday the presidency announced that Egypt would help Tanzania build a huge dam on the River Rufiji. The government-run Arab Contractors, a leading Egyptian construction company, won the tender to design and build a dam on the river at Stiegler's Gorge. Tanzania regards the project as one of the most important national projects for power generation. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi told his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli that the project would be a model for cooperation between African states and accepted an invitation from Magufuli to lay the dam's foundation stone. The dam project is likely to strengthen bilateral relations and open the door to further economic cooperation between Egypt and Tanzania. It is not the first time Egypt has participated in important infrastructure projects in the African state. Egyptian consulting and engineering offices played a prominent role in designing the 680-metre Kigamboni Bridge which connects the two sides of Dar Es-Salam and was opened last year. An Egyptian company is also acting as the consultant on the expansion of Julius Nyerere Airport. Stronger Egyptian-Tanzanian ties will have positive impacts on relations between Nile Basin states in general and could contribute to easing the standoff between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). “Improving relations between Nile Basin states is likely to help in resolving outstanding differences between Egypt and Ethiopia,” said a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity. The construction of GERD on the Nile near the EthiopianSudanese border has led to concerns in Cairo over the dam's impact on Egypt's share of Nile water. Egypt and Tanzania enjoy close relations. A joint higher committee convenes regularly to strengthen trade, economic and cultural relations and other aspects of the comprehensive cooperation that exists between the two countries. During the 28th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa in January 2017 President Al-Sisi met Magufuli and stressed that Egypt was keen further develop cooperation with Tanzania and increase the volume of trade. Later the same year Al-Sisi visited Tanzania, the first visit by an Egyptian president since 1968. Reviving Nile Basin talks was one of the key issues addressed during the visit. Under the1959 Nile water agreement Egypt is guaranteed 55.5 billion cubic metres of water and Sudan 18.5 billion cubic metres annually. The Nile Basin states, including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and with Eritrea as an observer, met in Uganda in 2010 to regulate the fair division of Nile water and agreed a cooperative framework (CFA) that outlines the principles, rights and obligations for cooperative management and development of the Nile Basin's water resources. Egypt and Sudan refused to sign the CFA because it failed to recognise their allocated quotas. Warm relations existed between Egypt and Tanzania under the first Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere and late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser. In 2014 the two countries marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic bilateral relations. “The dam project comes within the framework of Egypt's growing openness to Africa and Cairo's drive to diversify relations and strengthen cooperation with states across the continent. Together with other ongoing projects it will enhance Egypt's status in Africa,” says the diplomat.
