Nile Basin States to meet in Sudan tomorrow
KHARTOUM, May 24, 2004 (Sudan Tribune) — Nile Basin States meet Tuesday, May 25th, in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to conduct a National Project Coordinators Orientation Program for the implementation of the 43.6 million US-dollar Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project (NTEAP).
This project is one of the eight basin-wide projects of the NBI Shared Vision Programme, a statement issued by the NBI Secretariat said.
The National Project Coordinators are to supervise and coordinate the planning and implementation of the Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project in each of the nine countries that share the Nile namely Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Representatives from the Nile Basin Initiative-Secretariat, the Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project Management Unit and the United Nations Office for Project Services will conduct the National Project Coordinators Orientation Program.
According to Mr. Gedion Asfaw, the NTEAP Regional Project Manager, “The National Project Coordinators will work with stakeholders in each of the 9 riparian countries to ensure that the objectives of the Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project are achieved.
The thrust of the NTEAP is to promote a broader understanding of the environmental problems and challenges of the Nile Basin, and to find lasting solutions, which are both effective and sustainable. This is crucial for eradicating poverty within the communities and the basin region at large for many years to come.”
The Nile Transboundary Environment Project is the first of basin-wide projects to be implemented on the ground under the Shared Vision Program of the Nile Basin Initiative. It will be launched by the Sudanese President, General Omar El-Bashir, on May 29, 2004 at the Project Management Unit in Khartoum.
The Minister for Water Resource Management and Development of Kenya who is also the Chairperson of the Nile Council of Ministers, Honourable Martha Karua, will also be in attendance.
The NTEAP has been operational since October 2003 and will continue for 5 years. Its headquarters — the Project Management Unit — is hosted by the Republic of the Sudan. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funds the project. 4.3% of the total funding is from the riparian countries.
The Nile Basin is home to an estimated 160 million people. More than 300 million people live in the 10 countries that share and depend on the Nile waters. The overwhelming majority rely to a greater extent on the river for their basic needs.
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is a regional partnership initiated by the Nile countries in 1999 to realize a shared vision “to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources”.
The Nile Basin countries are now translating this vision into concrete investments and action on the ground that will build confidence and capacity across the basin; that will lay the foundation for a better life for their peoples.