Egypt’s President al-Sisi Urges Cooperation for “Arab Water Security”

• Egypt’s al-Sisi Highlights Issue of Nile water at China-Arab States Summit as president of China arrives in Riyadh to foster cooperation with oil-rich Kingdom.

Riyadh: Egyptian President al-Sisi has urged cooperation for “Arab Water Security” as the water stress challenge becomes severe in Egypt and many other middle eastern countries.

“Let me stress, once again, on an issue that I am confident concerns us all, given the constraints and risks it bears and as it amounts to be an existential threat: the issue of “Arab Water Security”, President El-Sisi’s stated during his speech at the First China-Arab States Summit in #Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

For this, I call for prioritizing this issue in our future cooperation, within “The China-Arab States Cooperation Forum”, and for discussing cooperation methods to address this challenge with various technological, economic and political tools, he further added.

Elaborating the details of #WaterCrisis, Al-Sisi said water security represents “an existential threat,” hence the matter must be a priority in terms of cooperation.

He also called on #Ethiopia to engage “in reaching a final solution to the issue of the Renaissance Dam.”

Moreover, the massive $4.2 billion dam has been at the center of a regional dispute ever since Ethiopia broke ground on the project in 2011.

#Egypt and #Sudan view it as a threat because of their dependence on Nile waters.

#Chinese President Xi Jinping while meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday, last week, said.

“China hopes to seize the opportunity offered by the first China-Arab States Summit to work with Egypt to build a China-Arab community with a shared future and to better implement the nine programs announced at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation”.

China congratulates Egypt on the success of the Sharm El-Sheikh #ClimateChange Conference #COP27, held in November,2022.

China congratulated Egypt on the success of the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP27), and aims to strengthen communication and cooperation with Egypt in energy transition, green economic sectors and low-carbon technologies, added Xi.

“Egypt offers promising opportunities for investment, which opens the way for broad prospects to improve bilateral trade exchange and economic cooperation,” Xi added.

During the meeting, Al-Sisi said Egypt is looking forward to increasing the flow of Chinese tourists to Egypt and is encouraging Chinese companies to maximize their investments in the country, the statement said.

Al-Sisi also underlined the “integration” of China’s Belt and Road Initiative with Egypt’s development efforts, particularly the development of the Suez Canal Corridor and the country’s infrastructure, including its roads, seaports and energy sector.

On Wednesday, Xi arrived in Saudi Arabia on a three-day official visit to attend the first China-Arab Summit and China-Gulf Summit in Riyadh as well as to hold talks with Saudi officials.

The Chinese president’s visit comes three months after US President Joe Biden visited Riyadh amid an energy crisis caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Xi’s last visit to Saudi was in 2016.

By: Dr.Muhammad Arif