H.E. José Endundo Bononge, Chairperson of the Nile Council of Ministers (NILE-COM) for Water Affairs, and Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism (DR Congo) will meet with his fellow Ministers of Water from the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Member States on 22 May 2009 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The purpose of the meeting is to forge a way forward in finalizing the outstanding issue (Article 14b, Water Security) of the draft Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA).

The extraordinary meeting follows consultative meetings recently undertaken by Minister Endundo in each of the eight NBI Member States of Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. This week’s meeting, which will provide a critical opportunity to agree on the way forward with regard to the Cooperative Framework Agreement, which will pave the way to the establishment of a permanent River Nile Basin Organization.

Negotiations for a River Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement started in 1997.  After almost ten years, the draft text of the CFA was submitted to the meeting of the Nile Council of Ministers for Water Affairs for their consideration in June 2007.  Following extensive discussions, the NILE-COM concluded that the CFA be referred to Heads of State to resolve the outstanding issue.  The signing and ratification of the CFA is today, more than ever before, critical to the future of cooperation in the Nile Basin region.

Prior to this meeting focused on the Cooperative Framework Agreement, Mr. José Endundo will also preside over the Nile Equatorial Lakes Council of Ministers (NELCOM) in Kinshasa.  The Coordinating Unit of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP-CU) will provide regular briefings to the Ministers on progress achieved in the implementation of programs/projects activities.