Nile Basin ministers to meet in Khartoum on Thursday

June 17, 2014 (ENTEBBE) – Ministers in charge of water affairs in the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) countries will meet in Khartoum Thursday for their annual Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) conference.

The one-day event, NBI said in statement, will also witness a change in the NBI governance in which South Sudan’s minister for electricity, water and irrigation, Jemma Nunu Kumba will hand over the chairmanship of the Sudanese minister for water resources and electricity, Mutaz Musa Abdalla Salim.

The changes in the NBI leadership and top management are in line with the NBI tradition of rotating the two positions among its member states in alphabetical order.

However, whereas the position of Nile-COM chair rotates each year, that of its executive director alternates every two years.

During the one-day meeting, ministers from the NBI countries are also expected to extensively deliberate on the status of the Nile cooperation and how to move it forward.

“They will also take time to review progress made by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in the previous fiscal year, consider the plans and budgets for the coming year and provide strategic guidance,” party reads the statement.

Meanwhile, the Nile-Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC), NBI management, representatives of development partners and the civil society will participate in meeting as observers.

(ST)