Egypt calls for international funding to confront water challenges

Egypt called for sufficient international attention to water challenges, especially in African countries, and to provide the necessary funding to confront those challenges.

Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Aty said, during his participation yesterday in the session of the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCAO), held within the activities of the “Ninth World Water Forum” in Senegal, that cooperation between Egypt and African countries is one of the main axes in Egyptian foreign policy, in light of What Egypt possesses of human potential and various technical and institutional expertise in the field of water resources and other fields.

He referred to the Fifth Cairo Water Week, which will be held under the title “Water at the Heart of Climate Action”, and the Climate Conference, which Egypt will host next November, as a “golden opportunity to present the challenges of the African continent in the field of water,” stressing “the importance of having challenges The water sector has received sufficient international attention, especially in African countries, and the necessary funding to confront these challenges.”

Abdel-Aty also participated in the session “The Road Towards the United Nations Mid-Term Conference 2023”, organized by the Dutch Ministry of Water, where he referred in his speech to the importance of the United Nations Mid-Term Review Conference in achieving the sustainable development goals, especially the sixth goal on water issues and confronting its scarcity. He stressed the importance of working hard in modernizing the water sector and increasing the flexibility of water systems in dealing with various water challenges, with the need to mobilize national efforts.

Abdel-Aty pointed out that 36 percent of the world’s population already suffers from water scarcity, and that by 2050 water stress and desertification will threaten nearly 100 countries around the world, led by Egypt, calling for “increasing efforts to modernize the water sector and increase the resilience of water systems.” in dealing with various water challenges.

He stressed the need for water to be a tool for regional cooperation, through just and binding legal agreements to manage common international rivers.

Egypt suffers from a deficit in its water resources, and depends more than 90 percent on its share of the Nile water, which amounts to 55.5 billion cubic meters, while anticipating a shortage in that share as Ethiopia approaches the operation of the “Renaissance Dam” on the Nile River.