By Abbas Nazil
Egypt and Jordan are strengthening their bilateral cooperation in water, food, and energy security, with a focus on sustainable development, following high-level talks held on the sidelines of the seventh Arab Water Week in Amman.
Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sewilam, met with Jordanian royal Prince El Hassan bin Talal to explore collaborative opportunities in natural resource management and climate adaptation under the “Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems Nexus” (WEFE NEXUS) framework.
Also present at the meeting were Egypt’s Ambassador to Jordan, Mohamed Samir, and Marwan Al-Raggad, President of the Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management.
The discussions emphasized enhanced coordination between Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation, as well as potential cooperation through the Islamic Network, which facilitates knowledge sharing among Muslim-majority countries on water development and management.
Central to the dialogue was the growing importance of desalination technologies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Minister Sewilam highlighted desalination as a vital strategy for achieving food security in arid regions, noting that its success hinges on reducing energy consumption and operational costs.
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He disclosed that Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are currently working on a regional initiative aimed at exchanging expertise and advancing desalination technologies to bolster sustainable agricultural practices.
The meeting also covered Egypt’s major wastewater treatment projects, including the New Delta, Bahr El-Baqar, and Al-Mahsama plants.
These facilities are expected to contribute approximately 5 billion cubic meters of treated water annually by 2026, which will be directed toward agricultural expansion.
Egypt and Jordan agreed on the importance of exchanging technical know-how on wastewater reuse and treatment methods to support food production and ecosystem conservation.
Furthermore, the two sides acknowledged the role of subsurface drainage systems in enhancing crop yield and quality, and they stressed the need for joint scientific research focused on developing crop varieties that can withstand drought and high salinity—key to regional climate resilience.
The leaders called attention to Egypt’s coastal protection efforts along the Mediterranean as an example of effective climate adaptation and highlighted the urgency of implementing actionable projects across the region.
Both parties urged industrialized nations, which contribute the most to global greenhouse gas emissions, to deliver climate finance in the form of grants rather than loans, recognizing the limited emissions footprint of Arab states.
The meeting concluded with a unified commitment to expanding Arab cooperation through research partnerships, knowledge dissemination, and the promotion of nature-based solutions in future water and environmental infrastructure initiatives.
