Rwanda High Commissioner to Tanzania Maj.Gen.Charles Karamba, represented the Government of Rwanda and delivered the country’s statement in the Nile Basin Initiative Council of Ministers meeting held in Dar es salaam on the 19^th August, 2022.

The meeting, which took place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, convened Ministers of Water Affairs and their representatives from the Nile Basin Initiative Member States, diplomats, Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members, development partners, government officials, media and the general public.

The Nile Basin Council of Ministers (COM), traditionally convened at the beginning of every fiscal year, is the top decision-making organ of the Nile Basin Initiative and is responsible for setting the strategic direction over the use of the shared resources of the Nile River basin. The Council of Ministers also approves the institution’s work plans and budgets for the subsequent financial year.

The Nile Basin Council of Ministers approved the first ever Nile River Basin Management Plan, whose objective is to guide the planning and implementation of water resources management and development interventions in the Nile River Basin at national, sub-regional and regional levels.

The meeting also witnessed the change in leadership of the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers with Tanzania’s Minister of Water, Jumaa H. Aweso, taking over from South Sudan’s deceased Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Peter Gatkuoth Manawa.

The Council of Ministers also approved the Nile River Basin Investment Plan, which will guide the investments work in the Nile Basin.

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is an intergovernmental partnership of 10 Nile Basin countries, namely Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, The Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Eritrea participates as an observer. It was established to provide a forum for consultation and coordination among the Basin States for the sustainable management and development of the shared Nile Basin water and related resources for win-win benefits.