VZCZCXRO7132
RR RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB
DE RUEHEG #7159 3511437
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171437Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2956
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0247
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA 0117
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0045
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 0077
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 0128
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 1083
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 0039
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0043
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0320

UNCLAS CAIRO 007159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA, OES/PCI FOR SALZBERG, NEA/RA FOR LAWSON, 
AF/EPS FOR BURNAM, ECA/PE FOR GOMEZ, USAID/ANE FOR WILSON 
AMMAN FOR WHITTLESEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PREL KPAO EG ET ER SU BY RW UG TZ KE
SUBJECT: EGYPT PRESSING FORWARD ON NILE BASIN INITIATIVE 
 
REF: STATE 190874 
 
Sensitive but unclassified. Not for internet distribution. 
 
¶1. (SBU)   Summary.  The Government of Egypt is a strong 
supporter of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) as a tool for 
cooperative management of water resources and is leading 
efforts to finalize a framework agreement.  In January, the 
GOE will host an NBI council meeting aiming to ratify the 
framework agreement, though some issues are pending.  GOE 
contacts expressed enthusiasm for a multi-country 
International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) for NBI 
countries, modeled after a 2006 Egyptian single country 
program.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU)   On December 10, Econoff met with Dr. Abdel Fattah 
Metawie, Chairman of the Nile Water Sector at the Ministry of 
Water Resources and Irrigation who expressed his strong 
belief in the NBI's "ability to bring together people to work 
on common issues."  Metawie said Egypt intends to host a 
high-level meeting in Cairo in mid-January, and is confident 
that "the time is ripe" for ratification of the framework 
agreement.  This meeting, originally scheduled for 
mid-December, was pushed back due to scheduling conflicts. 
Metawie said riparian countries have been "working together 
closely" and "made many compromises" in preparation to ratify 
the framework agreement. 
 
¶3. (SBU)   Water ministers from Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia 
will meet on December 20 in Khartoum to try to resolve the 
issue of "previous agreements," one of two core issues in the 
framework agreement.  According to Metawie, all riparian 
countries, except for Ethiopia, have agreed to the 
framework's provisions on how to replace old standing 
bilateral and multilateral treaties, an issue which is now 
being dubbed "water security."  The goal of the Khartoum 
meeting is to convince Ethiopia to accept the revised 
provisions of water security.  The other outstanding issue is 
"prior notification," or alerting downstream countries of 
changes in the Nile flow.  Metawie said that some aspects of 
the texts on prior notification are still being negotiated 
keeping in mind "how to fulfill the interests of all." 
 
¶4. (U)  In 2006, with the coordination of Dr. Metawie, post 
launched a single country International Visitors Leadership 
Program (IVLP) to send mid-level Egyptian hydraulic engineers 
to the U.S. to visit various water research stations and to 
study our water agreements with Mexico and Canada.  The 
candidates are scheduled to go to the U.S. in February. 
Metawie informed us that technical experts from Ethiopia, 
Egypt and Sudan recently had a similar successful visit to 
West Africa to examine transboundary water issues in the 
Senegal River.  Metawie enthusiastically supported the idea 
of a regional IVLP program for NBI countries, sending two to 
three working level NBI engineers from each member country to 
the US for a several week IVLP course.  Post welcomes 
feedback about this idea from both other NBI posts and the 
Department. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Comment:  Egypt is clearly committed to the NBI and 
is taking an active leadership role in ensuring that the 
framework is ratified.  While GOE contacts boast about 
Egypt's ability to store a substantial amount of Nile water 
in Lake Nasser as insurance for reduced flow levels, they 
nonetheless recognize the NBI is crucial to ensure a 
continuous supply of water to Egypt.  End comment. 
JONES