19 February 2008
Addis Ababa — Ethiopia is to host the 2008 Nile-Day Celebration on Friday 22 February 2008, an annual event held under the auspices of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), the ministry of water resources announced on Monday.
The Celebration will be as much in memory of the historic 22nd February 1999 when the NBI was adopted, as it is to acknowledge the results achieved to date.
In a statement, the ministry said this years Nile day to be marked here on February 22, 2008 follows Ethiopian request to host the Nile-Day 2008 to coincide with Ethiopian/African Millennium celebrations underway this year in the country and elsewhere in the world.
The theme for this year's Nile Day 2007 is: "Cooperation on the Nile: Sustaining our Lives, Our Future" while its objective is to foster regional consciousness and awareness, trust and confidence, among key opinion makers and reach out to a quarter of the basin's population (ca. 40 million) in a single day with the NBI message, according to the statement.
Local and national events will be organized throughout the Nile Basin, while a regional event is planned in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
FDRE President Girma W.Giorgis will officiate the upcoming regional event to be attended by Ministers of Water Affairs of riparian countries, representatives of development partners, ambassadors and other invited guests, Ministry of Water Resources, said in a statement.
Major highlights of the program include: speeches, songs and poetry by children from Nile Basin countries, Art Exhibits, cultural troupes from Ethiopia and Sudan, a friendly Basketball Match between teams from Rwanda (2007 Nile Day Champions) and Ethiopia, it added.
There will also be a panel discussion organized by the Addis Ababa University where scholars will present on the Nile basin resources, the challenges and opportunities, to be debated up on by the university community and the public, the ministry said in a separate media statement.
The organization of the event is supported by civil society groups such as the Nile Basin Dialogue Forums and by organs of the NBI such as the Confidence Building and Stakeholder Involvement Project (CBSI), the Nile Trans boundary Environmental Action Program (NTEAP), the Water Resources Planning and Management Unit (WRPMU).
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is the transitional cooperative mechanism of partnership initiated and led by the nine Nile Basin countries.
It seeks to develop the River Basin in a cooperative manner for benefit-sharing within and across national boundaries, and promote regional cooperation, integration, peace, and security, according to the initiative's official website.
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