Egypt, Jordan discuss regional water cooperation

Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam met Prince Hassan bin Talal on the sidelines of the 7th Arab Water Week held in Jordan to discuss regional cooperation on sustainable water management, as per a Cabinet statement.

The two sides reviewed cooperation between Egypt’s Ministry of Irrigation and Jordan’s Ministry of Water, with a focus on implementing projects under the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus framework. The meeting also touched on joint efforts through the Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management (INWRDAM).

Sewilam highlighted the importance of desalination for high-efficiency food production in the region as a future water solution, stressing the need to lower the cost of energy used in desalination to ensure its economic feasibility.

He revealed that Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are preparing a regional WEFE Nexus project aimed at pooling their desalination expertise to bolster food production.

The discussion further covered Egypt’s major wastewater treatment projects, including New Delta, Bahr El-Baqar and Al-Mahsama, which are expected to add 5 billion cubic metres of treated agricultural drainage water annually by 2026. The two sides discussed exchanging expertise in this area.

Sewilam also pointed to the role of subsurface drainage projects in boosting crop productivity and quality. He underscored the need for joint research to support the cultivation of salt- and drought-tolerant crops.

The minister stressed the importance of climate adaptation projects such as the protection of Egypt’s northern coasts, and called for developed countries, most responsible for climate change, to provide grants, not loans, to fund these efforts in the Arab world. He also urged deeper Arab cooperation to share best practices in climate resilience and promote nature-based solutions in water projects.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English
Subediting: M. S. Salama