The 17th annual meeting of the Nile council of ministers, held late last month in Egypt's Alexandria city, has reached agreement on most points of the package of the Nile Basin Initiatives (NBI) on the fair and equitable use of the transboundary rivers, said an Ethiopian cabinet minister on Tuesday.

Egypt and Sudan objected one of the articles of the package, said Ethiopian Minister of Water Resource Asfaw Dingamo.

At a news conference in Addis Ababa, Asfaw said the package has 39 articles and 66 sub-articles, adding that the meeting was successful in protecting Ethiopia's interest.

Though seven riparian countries of NBI agreed on all of the articles of the package, Egypt and Sudan objected one of the articles on the security of water, he said.

The questions of Egypt and Sudan, aimed at getting special privilege on Nile River, has failed to get support from other members, said the Ethiopian minister, who attended the meeting, held from July 27 to 28.

Asfaw said the package has been designed to benefit all riparian countries in using water resources in an equitable and fair manner.

The different idea of Egypt and Sudan on the article was first reflected in an NBI meeting held in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, he recalled.

The upper basin Nile countries have given six months for Egypt and Sudan to reach agreement on the article or to come up with an alternative idea, he added.

If the two countries fail to reach agreement on the stated period of time, the implementation of the whole package will begin as since it will be approved by a majority vote.

The NBI is a partnership initiated and led by the riparian states of the Nile River through the council of ministers of water affairs of the Nile Basin states.

Source: Xinhua