Nile Basin Initiative

[1] The NBI began with a dialogue among the riparian states that resulted in a shared vision objective “to achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.

"[1][2] It was formally launched in February 1999[2] by the water ministers of nine countries that share the river: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as Eritrea as an observer.

The World Bank has a mandate to support the work of the NBI, as lead development partner and as administrator of the multi-donor Nile Basin Trust Fund.

[6][7] The DRC abstained, while Egypt and Sudan refused to sign on after decrying the CFA as an attempt to diminish their shares of Nile water.

The initial project sites identified include Lake Nasser/Nubia in Egypt; Jamma, Reb, and Gumara sub-basins, as well as watershed management in Tana-Beles as part of the Tana-Beles Integrated Water Resources Development Project in Ethiopia; and the lower Atbara, Ingessena Mountains and areas around Dinder National Park in Sudan.

This will include efforts to improve dissemination of flood warning information to communities at risk, strengthen existing institutions and mechanisms to alert communities; establish community-based plans to reduce flood damages and capture environmental benefits; deliver public education programs; and develop regional and local emergency preparedness and response plans.

The multi-purpose track includes a series of studies aimed at developing common analytical tools, as well as a tentative plan for coordinated investments called the Joint Multipurpose Program.

[12] Specific common analytical tools will be developed for the power sector, watershed management and irrigation/drainage, integrated by an overall planning model.

Donors that contributed through the Nile Basin Trust Fund until early 2008 include Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Other donors to the NBI include Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, the EU and various UN agencies such as UNDP and the FAO.

The article says that member countries would work together to ensure "not to significantly affect the water security of any other Nile Basin State."

Egypt and Sudan want the article to read "Not to adversely affect the water security and current uses and rights of any other Nile Basin States" without the qualification "significantly".

[23] A former Egyptian minister of water resources and irrigation, Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, sees the framework agreement as a positive beginning, saying that "everybody agreed to more than 95 percent of the articles".