Ms. Hilde F. Johnson, Minister of International Development

Opening statement

Nile Basin Initiative - Donor’s meeting, Oslo 3 December 2002

As delivered

Excellency, Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Norway and to this meeting of the partners in the Nile Basin Initiative. The first meeting in Geneva in June 2001, which was a joint ICCON meeting with the Nile countries and others, was very successful. I hope the present meeting will build on the good spirit of the Geneva meeting, and also Entebbe, and give a further boost to the Nile Basin co-operation.

The Earth has been termed the "Blue Planet". More than two thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, and it may look as if there is more than enough water on our planet. Water is vital to all forms of life and should therefore be regarded as a common, shared resource, just like fresh air, sunlight, freedom, peace and human rights. The importance of water has always been recognised; for example, 2500 years ago the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus argued that water is the world’s main building element. We have always taken it for granted that water is a natural part of our lives. Perhaps this is the reason why we have failed to safeguard this precious commodity.

At the end of the twentieth century we were again reminded of the importance of water, but then in a negative sense. The world witnessed severe droughts in East and North Africa in the 1970s and 80s. Since then, there has been growing concern about the scarce water resources in the Middle East and elsewhere. Water’s scarcity has made it a highly valued market commodity. Large multi-national companies not only sell drinking water in handy bottles, but also try to get control over municipal water systems. The scarcity of fresh water and its uneven distribution – as well as its possible control by the few as opposed to its need by the many - make it a potential trigger of conflict and war – not only in dry rural regions but also in modern urban areas. Water may become one of the most decisive factors in fuelling conflict of this century and millennium.

All of these issues are well illustrated in the Nile Basin region. The River Nile runs through 10 countries. The utilisation of its water resources is therefore best managed through a regional approach. The Nile Basin Initiative is a uniquely well placed in this and other respects. It aims to create a forum for co-operation also for many important issues besides water - such as education, trade and industry, power and energy, and agriculture.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As a regional effort, the Nile Basin Initiative marks the emergence of nothing less than a new development paradigm with the following characteristics:

• A cooperation supported by a group of donor countries, known as "development partners",
• ownership of the process resting clearly with the Nile countries themselves,
• joint political decisions giving priority to social and economic development according to clear progress plans.

Our role as partners will be to facilitate, discuss plans, advise and support activities, technically, politically and financially. The Shared Vision Programme also aims to create a political and institutional framework around the Nile co-operation. This is equally important, and will have the added value of preventing conflict and securing more stable regional development.

And it is on this latter front that we have seen some of the most positive achievements since the ICCON meeting in 2001. The peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been consolidated, and these two countries now co-operate in the regional effort by IGAD to bring peace to Sudan. The Machakos process has brought the peace initiative for Sudan many steps forward. A peace agreement in Sudan will radically change the regional setting. It could open the way for large-scale international development investment in many fields, especially education and infrastructure. We must see to it that regional co-operation is used to support peace and development in Sudan. This will in turn have a great impact on the other efforts being made in the Nile Basin region. This is a situation where regional peace efforts and development are clearly linked.

There has also been steady progress within the Nile Basin Initiative itself since the Geneva meeting. The water ministers of the Nile countries have agreed on several projects and on the further implementation of the Shared Vision Programme and Subsidiary Action Programmes. These plans will be presented and discussed at this meeting. I would especially like to mention the establishment and acceptance of the Initiative and its secretariat in Entebbe as a separate legal entity, which now has been passed into legislation in Uganda. This also means that we can start channelling our financial contributions through the NBI Trust Fund, which will be the main topic of discussion at this meeting. We – the Nile partners – must now follow up and make the trust fund operational through our co-operation and contributions. The Norwegian Government is ready to do its share in this process.

I would also like to take this opportunity to confirm the Norwegian Government’s commitment to supporting the Nile Basin Initiative along the lines we announced at the ICCON meeting in Geneva. This includes an allocation of 100 million Norwegian kroner, or 13 million USD, over five years, and a willingness to co-ordinate bilateral development assistance with this initiative. We will continue in our role as lead partner in the project on regional power trade, and also render support to education, applied training and water resource management. We are also ready to support the preparatory phase of the Subsidiary Action Programmes.

Water is an increasingly important issue. This trend will not be reversed for the foreseeable future. There is now a strong need to agree on a good global water policy for future generations. This has been the agenda for the numerous water conferences arranged both by the UN and by others around the world since the beginning of the 1970s. Water was, off course, a central theme during this year’s world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg. The best mechanism for ensuring that all human beings have access to sufficient clean water is through peaceful co-operation, both in the local community and between states and countries. We could also turn this around and say that co-operation on the common utilisation of water resources is an excellent way of making peace. There is a strong case for this particular point.

In conclusion, I want to emphasise that the Nile countries have done their share of the job in this initial phase. The process has gained momentum, and it’s now up to us, the partners, to ensure continued progress in the spirit of the Geneva meeting on the way towards establishing a strong foundation for co-operation on joint utilisation of the Nile Water. I hope all the donor countries present will do their share.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a very productive meeting.

Thank you.