Egyptian Irrigation Minister, Australian ambassador discuss joint cooperation

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Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sweilam met with the Australian Ambassador to Cairo, Axel Wabenhorst, to discuss bilateral cooperation in water-related issues, especially in light of the similar challenges facing the two countries with regard to water.

During the meeting, the two officials discussed issues of climate change and its negative effects on various countries of the world, including Egypt, which faces extreme climatic phenomena, and Australia, which faced forest fires that ravaged it several years ago.

Sweilam pointed out that the issue of climate change is one of the most important issues facing the world at the present time, given the clear and increasing effects of climate change on water resources and food production around the world and causing a rise in sea level, which requires the intensification of national efforts for adaptation, providing the necessary financing to implement projects that contribute to achieving this goal, as well as taking the necessary measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The minister also highlighted the need to convert international pledges in the field of adaptation to climate change into procedures and projects that will be implemented on the ground on a large scale as soon as we can.

Sweilam reviewed the efforts that Egypt has successfully undertaken during the last period to put water at the heart of global climate action by launching the “Adaptation in the Water Sector” initiative, organizing a “Water Day” for the first time during the COP27, and mobilizing efforts of the international community to support water issues, especially since global water challenges at the present time negatively affect many countries around the world, especially developing countries.

He further expressed the ministry’s desire to cooperate with Australia in the fields of water desalination and treatment, improving water distribution systems and measurements, evaluating and rehabilitating hydraulic installations, and training and building the capacities of workers in the water field through the provision of training courses or post-graduation scholarships in Australian universities.