Donors pledge US $140 million for Nile basin projects

The newly-created International Consortium for Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON) held its first meeting on 26 through 28 June in Geneva, bringing together the international donor community and NGOs in support of the Nile Basin Initiative, a cooperative programme to address poverty, environmental degradation and instability. It is also intended to serve as a forum for dialogue on the options and opportunities for management and development of the Nile Basin, according to an ICCON statement received by IRIN on Friday.

The Consortium is led by the ministers of water affairs of all 10 countries sharing the Nile River: Burundi, the DRC, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Donor countries pledged initial financial support of at least US $140 million to finance the full programme, with a trust fund to be established by the World Bank for this purpose. Strong support was also expressed to underwrite and secure financing for the first phase of the US $3 billion investment programme in the sub-basins, once the projects are ready for funding, according to the ICCON statement. “The successful launch of ICCON marks a new partnership of the Nile Basin states and the international community, working together to improve the lives of the people of the Nile Basin and promote peace.

The Nile Basin Initiative is a new development paradigm of regional cooperation that could help address many of the challenges of the basin,” the statement noted. While concerns were expressed over instability in the region, it was hoped that the initiative might serve as “an example of how international waters can become catalysts for cooperation, development, and stability”. [For further information regarding the ICCON, go to http://www.worldbank.org/afr/nilebasin/]