The corridor will start from the source of the longest river in the world – Lake Victoria
Egyptian Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Ati presented a project for a transport corridor between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean at a meeting with US water expert Matthew Parks and Deputy Chief of Staff of the United States Embassy in Cairo Nicole Champaign, Arab News reported.
Representatives of the United States have expressed interest in the project, identifying it as one of the most important regional projects that will bring economic and social benefits to all participating countries.
The corridor will start from the source of the longest river in the world – Lake Victoria, which is located between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Along with the river waterway, it will include a highway, a railway, electrical and communication infrastructure. The aim is to connect the eleven countries of the Nile Basin – Eritrea, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya and Egypt.
Mohammed Ghanem, a spokesman for the Ministry of Irrigation, told the online newspaper Daily News Egypt that funding was currently being sought for a detailed feasibility study.
Trade between Egypt and the countries of the Nile basin increased by 26.3 percent in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period last year, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), quoted by the online edition of Egypt Today magazine.
Egyptian exports reached $ 1.11 billion, up 33.7 percent year-on-year. Imports from the Nile basin to Egypt from the beginning of January to the end of September amounted to 497 million dollars, while for the same period last year it amounted to 442 million.
