African Young Water Professionals Forum kicks off in Cairo

CAIRO - 14 October 2018: The African Young Water Professionals Forum kicked off on the sidelines of the first Cairo Water Week (CWW) on Sunday, Oct. 14, gathering 30 young African leaders specialized in water fields.

The forum was organized by the African working group of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, which is currently chaired by Egypt, in cooperation with several international bodies, notably the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA); the Global Water Partnership (GWP) - International Water Management Institute (IWMI); National Italian, Moroccan and South African Committees for Irrigation and Drainage; the Economic Commission for Western Asia (ECWA); and the Regional Network for Youth Capacity Building in the Nile Basin Countries.

In his speech at the forum that was held on the sidelines of the 2018 Cairo Water Week, Head of the state-owned National Water Research Center (NWRC) Khaled Abdel Hai voiced Egypt’s support to the African youth, praising the efforts exerted in that field.

The opening session of the two-day forum tackled African youth’s water-related activities over the period between 2018 and 2020, said Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in a statement on Sunday.

A total of 24 young people from 12 African countries including Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Morocco participated in the forum.

The activities of the forum included four workshops on linkage between water, energy and food; future needs in technologies; and irrigation and drainage-related researches, the statement continued.

The first Cairo Water Week (CWW) kicked off on Sunday under the auspices of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, aiming at increasing the public awareness of water rationalization for sustainable development amid a state of water shortage.

The four-day CWW is being held in cooperation with the European Union and the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to tackle water issues, amid climate change that impacts the world’s freshwater.

In March 2016, the United Nations Environment Program warned that 50 percent of the world’s population would face “severe water stress” by 2030.

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