CAIRO, Egypt — In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor at his office in Cairo, Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdul Muttalib said that Egyptian support for technical cooperation projects for the development of the Upper Nile have not stopped. According to him, Egypt is continuing with its bilateral projects in Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan, and even in Ethiopia. However, because of legal problems, it is a different matter when it comes to the cooperation projects that were being carried out under the umbrella of the Nile Basin Initiative. Abdul Muttalib noted that his ministry is determining whether it is physically possible to link the Nile and Congo rivers; the legal dilemmas of linking the two rivers are being left to legal specialists.
The interview follows: