Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry headed to the Ugandan capital Kampala on Monday to discuss issues related to the Nile Basin, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Spokesperson of the ministry Ahmed Abu Zaid said in the statement that Shoukry presented a letter from President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to Ugandan president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, discussing the progress of cooperation on the issue of water in the Nile Basin, as well as bilateral relations between Egypt and Uganda. He added that the letter also praises the Ugandan efforts in reaching an agreement among Nile Basin countries, as Uganda is heading the ministerial council of Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) countries and has previously called for holding a summit of the Nile Basin countries. According to the statement, Shoukry's visit discussed programmes of the projects implemented by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) in Uganda, as well as the situation at the Horn of Africa. Al-Sisi had visited Uganda in December 2016 and discussed mutual relations and ways of boosting cooperation between the two countries in several regional issues, especially the Nile Basin issue. Furthermore, the Tripartite National Committee on the Renaissance Dam (TNCRD) had finalised its meeting in Cairo a week ago, after a four-day meeting in the presence of experts from three countries: Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
