On 29 and 30 November, 2010 a mission to Egypt was undertaken by the Delta Alliance Program Manager as a follow up of the signing of the Delta Alliance Declaration by Dr. Hussein El Atfy, Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation of Egypt, during the Delta Alliance launch session in Rotterdam. Goal of the meeting was to introduce Delta Alliance in Egypt and to agree on the role of the National Water Research Centre (NWRC) in the Delta Alliance network. Also, participants were challenged to give “project ideas” around issues of which they thought are important in relation to deltas.

A meeting was organized by Dr. Shaden Abdel Gawad, President of the NWRC, which was attended by representatives from the twelve research institutes belonging to NWRC. In earlier contacts with Dr. Hussein El Atfy and the Netherlands Embassy it was already suggested that Dr. Shaden and her centre should coordinate the Egyptian Wing. The Delta Alliance initiative was also discussed with the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC), the Netherlands Embassy, a representatives of the EU delegation and UNDP and with the manager of a large irrigation improvement project. The future role of Dr. Shaden en her centre was confirmed during the mission by Dr. Hussein El Atfy and the Netherlands Embassy. Read the complete document (pdf).