Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aati received his Kenyan counterpart Eugene Wamalwa and his accompanying delegation on Thursday for talks on means of promoting water cooperation.

In the period between 1993 and 2007, Egypt helped Kenya dig 180 water wells in different parts of the country to provide fresh water for remote communities.

A memo of understanding was signed for a new cooperation project to manage and develop water resources in Kenya with an Egyptian grant of $5.5 million, Abdel Aati said.

Under the memo, fresh drinking water will be provided to Kenyan nationals through digging up underground wells in deprived areas and building a rainwater harvesting reservoir, head of the Nile water sector at the ministry Ahmed Bahaa Eddin said.

The two ministers visited Fayoum to get acquainted with the technology used in treating agricultural wastewater to fulfill the growing needs of the population and fill the current water gap (more than 20 billion cubic meters annually).

Source: MENA