1st Cairo Water Week to be held in October

CAIRO – 22 May 2018: Egypt will host water experts from 53 countries to participate in the “Cairo Water Week”Conference, set to be held on October 14-18,to discuss water-related issues.

Iman Sayed Ahmed, general director of theplanning sector at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, said that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi will sponsor the conference, which reflects Egypt’s interest in facing water challenges, including desertification, water scarcity, and climate change.

She further remarked that several events under the theme “Water Conservation for Sustainable Development”will be held during the conference in partnership with European Union partners and the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO),along with the forum for decision makers, intellectuals and experts, to give the opportunity for participants to discuss regional and local issues and find the solutions for them.

In cooperation and coordination with the concerned ministries and international and local entities, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is organizing thefirst Cairo Water Week to discuss water problems and allow for international cooperation in different water fields.

On the sidelines of the conference, the fourthsession of the Islamic Conference of Ministers Responsible for Water, the thirdDelta Coalition Ministerial conference as well as the professional Youth Water Forum will be convened.

Ahmed mentioned that a gallerythat includesthe regional and international companies’ latest technologies in managing water and facing water pollution and misuse problems will also take place.

In this regard, she remarked that large companies, along with Egyptian manufacturers, will present their technologies to establish a partnership to manufacture tools required by modern water resources.

She added that the European Union Commission in Cairo has agreed to organize the first conference for investments in the water sector in Egypt as a part of the week’s events, in cooperation with the Arab finance funds and the FAO.

Egypt annually needs at least 90 billion cubic meters of water to suffice 90 million citizens. However, it currently has only 60 billion cubic meters, of which 55.5 billion cubic meters come from the Nile and five billion cubic meters come from non-renewable subterranean water in deserts; therefore, Egypt suffers from a water deficit of 30 billion cubic meters.

A further decrease in Egypt's water resources is expected in the future as a result of building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which will affect Egypt’s share of water.

Despite the latest negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to resolve the technical issues of the dam, Egypt is keen to expand its desalination projects to overcome any water scarcity problems in the future.

Consequently, the mega-facility Al-Yusr Plant in Hurghada was inaugurated in January 2018 to provide the Red Sea governorate with fresh water instead of the current pipelines from the Nile.

Egyptian scientists abroad were invited to reach solutions for the water shortage crisis facing the country. This was during the two-dayconference “Egypt Can…with the Sons of the Nile” that kicked off in Luxor on February 25, 2018 under the auspices of President Sisi; the conference was also attended by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and six other ministers.