President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi emphasised on Sunday that water is Egypt's top priority, highlighting the Nile River's critical role in the life and survival of the Egyptian people, as it provides over 98% of the country's water supply. Al-Sisi stressed that safeguarding this vital resource is essential for Egypt's existence. He called for persistent political commitment, diplomatic efforts, and cooperation with neighbouring countries to achieve shared goals.
These remarks were made during his video conference speech at the opening of the African Water Week and Cairo Water Week. Al-Sisi noted that Cairo Water Week serves as an annual international platform for exchanging experiences, fostering partnerships, supporting scientific research, and encouraging innovation in water resource management.
Al-Sisi said: "We have a strong will to organize this event on time despite the great challenges the world is witnessing, given the importance of discussing the field of water resources and in light of water scarcity and water scarcity for natural and human reasons and factors, in addition to giant projects to exploit international rivers."
The President pointed out that the date of Cairo Water Week this year coincides with the African Water Week and the African Hydrological Conference, which represents a momentum for discussing water issues at the continental level.
"In light of Egypt's deep commitment to its African identity, Egypt has adopted many continental initiatives and programmes related to water. Egypt's current presidency of the Council of African Ministers of Water reaffirms this commitment, as Egypt seeks through this presidency to enhance regional cooperation in the field of water and support the efforts of member states to achieve sustainable development goals related to water," he added.
Egypt is strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of water with many African countries, especially the Nile Basin countries, where it is implementing various projects with pure Egyptian funding, such as drilling wells, removing weeds from waterways, establishing rain forecasting centres, rehabilitating ports, and building rain harvesting dams.
The Egyptian President called on the international community to increase its support for the efforts of African countries in the field of water resources management and to provide the necessary funding and technology to implement projects and programs aimed at achieving water security, development, and spreading peace in the African continent. Egypt hosts the 7th Cairo Water Week on 13-17 October, under the patronage of the Egyptian President. The week will include a variety of activities including plenary sessions, technical sessions, workshops, roundtables and an exhibition.
