Dr. Mohamed Nasr Eldin Allam, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, confirmed that Egypt does not mind if Ethiopia implements its water projects, as long as it does not affect Egypt's share of the Nile water, pointing out that Egypt is considering Ethiopian proposals to establish some of these projects. He indicated that Egypt is taking into consideration the projects being implemented in Ethiopia in the context of preserving the historic rights of Egypt and the income from the Nile. Allam told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Ethiopia is an important partner for Egypt and Sudan, and 85% of the proceeds of the river coming to Egypt are from the Ethiopian plateau, which reflects the interest and the political leadership's keenness to activate cooperation with Ethiopia for the benefit of the interests of both peoples. The minister stressed the irrigation policy orientation towards maximizing the Egyptian degree of cooperation with Ethiopia in all areas such as water resources, agriculture, fish farming, drinking water or trade areas, pointing out that this inclination is part of historical ties between Egypt and Ethiopia. Regarding the attitude of certain political movements in some countries of the Nile Basin, who are opposed to the old agreements Ethiopia, signed with Egypt in 1929 and 1959. Allam stressed that Egypt supports any Convention that protects its rights of the historic Nile River. He stated that these conventions grant rights to Egypt under the international law and are internationally recognized, and bind all the Nile Basin countries. Pointing out that when Egypt established a new station to generate electricity on the 'Owen' tank in Uganda during the nineties it was part of the Convention under the guarantee of the two countries in 1929.
He added that the Convention obliges the Nile Basin countries in the upstream, not to carry out any project affecting their access to the waters of the Nile in Aswan. Egypt and these countries need to ensure the flow of Nile water to Egypt, while the waters of the Nile agreement which was signed between Egypt and Sudan, in 1959 binds the division of water between these two countries.
