Egypt reaffirms commitment to exerting utmost efforts to settle GERD issue: President Sisi

CAIRO – 17 October 2022: President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to exert utmost efforts to settle the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in a way that ensures the interests of all parties.

Sisi made the remarks in a speech at the opening of the fifth edition of Cairo Water Week (CWW 2022) on Sunday in the presence of dozens of ministerial and official delegations and 66 international organizations from around 70 countries.

During his speech, Sisi called on the international community to exert utmost concerted efforts in order to help achieve this just goal.

“We dream of a common endeavor to maximize the wealth of the Nile Basin that its nations shall all enjoy, instead of acting individually and competing in an uncooperative way that will result in a limited development, falling short in size and scope, in a manner that destabilizes them,” Sisi said.

“Our entrenched vision is to work together with a focus on establishing and sharing prosperity, instead of competition and rivalry, which lead to sharing impoverishment and instability,” he added.

Water issue at COP27

During his speech, Sisi said Egypt plans to present an initiative, dubbed “Water Adaptation and Resilience,” in coordination with the World Meteorological Organization during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) that Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh will host in November.

Egypt is also set to host an African center for water and adaptation to climate change with the aim of supporting African capabilities in this vital field, the president stressed.

Sisi invited participants of the CWW to participate in the events of the COP27 summit.

Egypt at heart of challenges

“It was Egypt's destiny to be at the heart of these three intertwined challenges: water and food security and climate change,” Sisi said during his speech.

He affirmed that Egypt is among the most arid countries worldwide, which relies almost exclusively on the Nile River for its renewable water resources.

He noted that around 80 percent of the country’s water resources go to the agriculture sector, which constitutes livelihood for over 60 million people- half of Egypt’s population.

“Due to this unprecedented water scarcity, Egypt’s water resources are now unable to meet the needs of its people in spite of following a policy to rationalize consumption,” Sisi said.

He also shed light on the impacts of climate change on water scarcity in the agricultural lands in Egypt, saying these lands are affected by the adverse consequences of climate change.