Water affairs ministers of the Nile Basin countries have agreed to hold a third round of negotiations on the Framework Nile Basin agreement, said Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasreddin Allam to Al-Masry Al-Youm. Dates of upcoming meetings in Sharm el-Sheikh will be officially announced in the coming few days, he added. Allam said that a meeting agenda will soon be drawn up and approved by the ministers, adding that it was Egypt's mission to set up such meetings as part of ongoing consultations with other Nile Basin countries. Allam further affirmed that Egypt seeks to expand cooperation with Nile Basin countries to encompass agricultural investment, trade, transport, and tourism. Relations with Nile Basin countries are based on clarity and transparency, Allam said, adding that those countries have demonstrated a willingness to continuously cooperate with Egypt. Meanwhile, an Egyptian diplomat denied claims, reported in the media, that water ministers of the Nile Basin countries have withdrawn from the upcoming round of negotiations due to disagreements. Mona Omar, assistant foreign minister for African affairs, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Egyptian irrigation minister had requested a decision from his African counterparts about a date to launch the third round of negotiations but had not yet received any reply. Some procedural measures regarding the agreement remain to be taken, Omar said, adding that this might explain why a date for negotiations has yet to be determined. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
