Nile Basin summit underway

Jun 22, 2017

President Yoweri Museveni the current chairperson of the initiative is expected to chair the heads of state summit on Thursday at Statehouse in Entebbe.

The Nile Basin Heads of State Summit kicked off at the Speke Resort in Munyonyo.

On Tuesday, the technical team from 11 member states met to discuss critical issues on the use of the River Nile.

The technical team's discussion was necessary for reaching consensus on minutes that were to be presented to the ministers' meeting on Wednesday.

The ministers' meeting was expected to reach consensus on a number of issues before forwarding them to the Presidents of the Nile Basin Initiative who will meet on Thursday.

But there were reports of several deadlocks on Tuesday and Wednesday that forced the programme to delay.

New Vision learnt that at one point during a closed door ministerial meeting, the Egyptian delegation walked out in protest after other members failed to reach consensus.

The Egyptian delegation protested against the minister's failures to reach consensus on every issue before making the final draft to present to the Presidents today.

But the executive director of the Nile Basin Initiative, Innocent Ntabana said he was optimistic that the ministerial meeting would come out with positive recommendations at the end of the day.

President Yoweri Museveni the current chairperson of the initiative is expected to chair the heads of state summit on Thursday at Statehouse in Entebbe.

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