The Nile Basin conference is expected to kick off in Juba on Friday, November 25.
The conference is organised by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Secretariat (Nile-SEC), whose executive and technical team are already in Juba ahead of Friday’s Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-com) conference.
This is the second time South Sudan is hosting the Nile-com conference since independence after it hosted the first one in 2013 in Juba.
In a press conference held in Juba yesterday, Emmanuel Ladu Parmenas, South Sudan’s Undersecretary, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation revealed that the NBI team in Juba will be holding a series of consultative meetings with the management of the Nile basin, including the stakeholders as part of the preparation for the final conference.
“An outline of the program will start from the 22nd to the 26th of this month and there is going to be some consultative meetings with the organising of the main events, especially from the 23rd and 24th they will be meeting with the management of Nile Basin plus other important groups,” Mr Ladu revealed.
He said those meetings are very important because they will be presented as the final document to Nile-com for deliberation and blessings.
Eng. Sylvester Anthony Matemu, the NBI Executive Director, said they are in the country to discuss numerous issues related to the Nile Basin Cooperation and Water Resource Management.
“I can tell you that the technical advisory committee discusses every issue then agrees and recommends decisions for ministers. However, there are two types of decisions; there are those issues under the authorities of the technical advisory committee and those must be taken to Nile-com like approving the budget,” he stated.
He said South Sudan is expected to benefit from the conference in different ways.
He said the main objective of the NBI is to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization and benefit from the common Nile Basin water resources.
Eng. Matemu disclosed that the Nile Council of Ministers is expected to take key decisions in the one-week discussion in the country.
NBI is an institution jointly owned by all the 10 member states namely: Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, The Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda while Eritrea used to participate as an observer.
The NBI is responsible for the overall corporate direction as well as playing the role of the lead centre for two programs: basin cooperation and water resource management.
The highest decision-making and policy-making body of the NBI are the Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM), comprising ministers in charge of Water Affairs in each NBI member state.
South Sudan was admitted to the NBI by the Nile Council of Ministers during their 20 regular meetings held on July 5, 2012, in Kigali, Rwanda
The conference will be held at the Palm African Hotel in Juba, South Sudan.