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Egypt Launches Development Projects to Support Nile Basin Countries

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) under construction near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan on the Blue Nile (Reuters)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) under construction near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan on the Blue Nile (Reuters)
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Egypt Launches Development Projects to Support Nile Basin Countries

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) under construction near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan on the Blue Nile (Reuters)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) under construction near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan on the Blue Nile (Reuters)

Egypt is launching a number of projects to support the Nile Basin countries and maximize the exploitation of water resources.

The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation announced the final preparations to equip the weather early warning center in Kinshasa, ahead of its inauguration next month.

It also dispatched the equipment for the center, and several Egyptian experts will arrive in Congo to install the equipment and start a trial operation.

Egypt experts will train the Congolese staff at the center on dealing with rain and flood forecasts and aerial imagery systems.

Minister Mohamed Abdel Ati announced that the new center is equipped with the latest rain forecast systems and will be concerned with studying climate change in Congo.

The center will contribute to protecting Congolese citizens from probable sudden climate disasters, Abdel Ati said.

The minister pointed out that Egypt established the Kinshasa center to transfer its expertise in the field of the integrated management of water resources to the Nile Basin countries.

Egypt and Congo signed a protocol for technical cooperation in the water resources field, under which the “Integrated Management for Water Resources” project is implemented, said the minister, adding that the project is carried out via an Egyptian grant to maximize Congo’s use of water resources and boost its capability to manage these resources.

Over the past few years, Egypt implemented a number of bilateral projects with the Nile Basin countries in the fields of water and electricity linkage, including rainwater harvesting dam, underground drinking water treatment plants to provide clean drinking water to remote areas that are far from the sources of water, fish farms, and river marinas.

Egypt and Sudan have been negotiating with Ethiopia for almost ten years to conclude a legal agreement regulating the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Addis Ababa built on the main tributary of the Nile to generate electric power.

Egypt and Sudan are calling for a binding legal agreement, that Ethiopia rejects, which led to the suspension of negotiations.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.