Nile Basin Countries celebrate Nile Day in Bahr Dar
Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tigrai Online March 08, 2013
The Nile Basin Countries celebrate Nile Day every year and this year it took place at Bahr Dar, a rapidly developing city on the shores of Lake Tana.
The Nile Basin Countries celebrate Nile Day every year and this year it took place at Bahr Dar, a rapidly developing city on the shores of Lake Tana, and theTiss isat Falls where the Blue Nile/Abay River emerges. It is an area of economic growth with water resource development as a driving engine, and the Bahr Dar region hosts a number of Nile Basin Initiative projects, including the recently inaugurated power transmission connection between Sudan and Ethiopia, the Flood Prevention and Early Warning Project, the Eastern Nile Watershed Management Project, and the Tana-Beles Integrated Watershed Management Project.
The celebrations commemorate the launch of the Nile Basin Initiative on February 22nd 1999, and this year the theme was "Land Degradation and Climate Change address shared threats, sustain Nile Cooperation."Participants include Ministers in charge of Water Resources in each Nile Basin country, development partners, officials from various ministries working on Water, Energy, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Transport, Members of Parliament, Researchers and representatives of civil society, youth organizations, the media and the people of the Nile Basin.
The objective is to enhance public awareness about the Nile and its potential for promoting regional cooperation as well as its vulnerability from the impact of growing demand, utilization and climate change. The program is designed to engage the Nile Basin public by providing them the opportunity for participation, emphasizing the role the River Nile can play in enhancing collaboration and cooperation to manage the shared water resources. Such events help to promote Basin-wide cooperation and encourage the riparian states to improve water management and development for people’s livelihoods.
Ethiopia’s participation in the Nile day and the NBI in general underlines its well-grounded belief that cooperation on the Nile is indispensable for the shared vision among riparian states to ensure sustainable and equitable utilization of the River and implement natural resource management to maintain the ecology of the basin. All riparian states drink from the same water, their destiny is inextricably linked and there is no alternative to cooperation to guarantee the benefits for the people of the Basin. Ethiopia has always stood behind NBI and the common projects for the benefit of all riparian countries. Equally, Ethiopian policy towards other Nile Basin countries is grounded on perpetuating the historical relationship between the countries linked through the natural chord of the Nile, and resting on fraternal relations based on the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization.
As a result, Ethiopia has played a key role in the drafting and signing of the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) and it has subsequently taken measures to build the confidence of the downstream countries to bring them onboard as signatories of the CFA. One notable measure in this regard was its decision to delay ratification of the CFA until a new government was put in place in Egypt. Indeed, the obvious conclusion to draw from the launch of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was that it underlines Ethiopia’s commitment to the equitable utilization of the Nile waters. The Renaissance Dam will have major benefits for downstream countries including regulation of water flows, of enormous value for the agriculture downriver, significant limits to siltation, and above all, a major reduction in evaporation and a consequent increase in the amount of water available.
Advertisements
Sponsored Links
More Articles
Ethiopian to Inaugurate New Perishable Cargo Cold Storage Facility
Yityish Aynaw Ethiopian Jew crowned as Miss Israel 2013
Heineken to build the largest brewery in Ethiopia
Sheik Mohammed Al Moudi wins libel action against Ethiopian Reviews and its Editor
Open Letter to Prince Kahlid Bin Sultan, Deputy Defense Minister of Saudi Arabia
Ethiopia, The Proud Host Of Two Key Continental Events
Abune Mathias is elected as the 6th Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
World Bank impressed about Ethiopian impressive Successes in Health
Tullow Oil Discovers oil in Ethiopian
A Saudi general goes berserk against The Ethiopian Grand Renaissance dam
Ethiopian MRO Services Develops Overhaul Capability for the CFM56-3 and CFM56-7 Engines
International Rivers and the Omo - short on fact and long on fiction again!
Ethiopia's Strategic Resolve to Building the Grand Renaissance Dam
Pinko unveiled six Ethiopian versions of its signature cotton Pinko Bags
Lekatit 11 Celebration in Washington DC 2013 (photos)
Meles Zenawi: Dedicated peace advocate and a brilliant military strategist part II
Ethiopia manufactures first military unmanned aircraft
From Economic Dependency and Stagnation to Democratic Developmental State
Yayu the largest Fertilizer Plant in Ethiopia progress video report
Long live Meles Zeanwi and his party TPLF/EPRDF
Terra Global Energy launches 400 MW Ethiopia Wind Project in Debre Birhan
Our heroes and heroines deserve a war memorial:
He who denies history denies himself: Reading between Abubekr Ahmedfs teaching
Meles Zenawi: Dedicated peace advocate and a brilliant military strategist
Demanding the impossible at gunpoint is terrorism
Meles Zenawi the father of Ethiopian modern military doctrine
Don't We Really Yearn to Hear About an Ethiopian Success Story?
Why Election Boycott Is a Suicidal Idea and a Surer Road to Political Extinction
Ethiopian Deputy Premier Discusses Success of Ethiopia's General Education Quality
A Documentary film of terrorists in the name of religion in Ethiopia
TPLF: The Price of Complete Victory
Ethiopian to Host Major International MRO Conference
Faces of Africa 01/21/2013 Meles Zenawi: The man who gave back
The pursuit of restoring an abdicated Patriarch is quixotic
Ethiopian Diaspora Politics and the People of Tigray
Africans are not comfortable about the way the west perceive China-Africa friendship
Ezana Mining Development Builds $17.8m Gold Plant in Tigrai State, Ethiopia
Travelport and Ethiopian Airlines Renew Partnership Agreement
Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen meets Gordon Brown, UK Parliamentarians
What does it take for Ethiopia to be food Self Sufficient?
The case for the National Team Name: Walia or Black Lions?
Ethiopian to Commence New Flights to Ndola, Zambia
Ethiopia, Marching Forward on a ramshackle economic growth
EPRDF as a custodian of Ethiopian culture and heritages
ESAT TV, stop your hate propaganda against the people of Tigrai
Ethiopian and Qatar Armed Forces Chief of Staffs hold talks
Eritrean regime arrested high government officials in connection to the failed coup
Population Explosion and Population Crash
Some brave Eritrean youth Occupied the Eritrean Embassy in London today