Hereunder are the most important points tackled during the meeting, in which Egypt participated with a Parliamentary delegation from the People's Assembly and the Shoura Council: First: The Opening Session: Executive Director of the Regional Technical Office for the Eastern Nile Basin Countries (ENTRO), Engineer Mekuria Tafesse, inaugurated the meeting, pointing out the objectives of the Nile Basin Initiative, namely achieving comprehensive cooperation among all the Nile Basin countries, which will guarantee security, development and prosperity for the peoples of the Nile Basin countries. The representatives of both the Sudanese and the Ethiopian Ministries of Water Resources stressed the need to boost cooperation among the Eastern Nile Basin countries, and to quickly implement the development projects for the welfare of the peoples of the region. The Director of the National Office for the Nile Basin Initiative, at the Nile Waters sector in the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Dr. Wael Solieman, pointed out the importance of the role played by the Parliamentarians in achieving the objectives of the Nile Basin Initiative. The Deputy of the Finnish Ambassador, on behalf of the Finnish government and all donor countries, highlighted their support and encouragement to the Nile Basin countries in signing the legal and institutional draft framework agreement for the Nile Basin countries, in order to boost cooperation and materialize the interests of the peoples. She outlined that Helsinki is scheduled to host the meeting of the Nile Basin Initiative Fund in October 2007, in which all the donor countries and institutions will take part, including the World Bank, which administers the Fund. The Deputy of the Committee for Agricultural Production, Irrigation and Land Reclamation at the Shoura Council, Dr. Salwa Bayoumy, outlined the need to have a common vision regarding cooperation among the Nile Basin countries based on transparency and frankness between the various parties. The Chief of the Committee for Agriculture at the Sudanese Parliament affirmed his country's support to the Nile Basin Initiative. Chief of the Committee for Defense, Foreign and Security Affairs at the Ethiopian Parliament, Ambassador Mohamed Ali, focused on the role played by the Ethiopian Parliamentarians in introducing the Nile Basin Initiative, which is based on the fair usage of water to the benefit of the peoples of the region. The Ethiopian Water Resources Minister pointed to the environmental and water challenges in his country, particularly drought and desertification, and the importance of regional cooperation to face these challenges. Second: General Discussions and Work Sessions: 1.      The Executive Director of the Nile Basin Initiative reviewed the developments in the negotiations concerning the legal and institutional framework for the draft cooperation Agreement among the member countries of the Nile Basin Initiative, stressing on the importance of adopting it as soon as possible. 2.      The Executive Director of the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) reviewed the various fields of cooperation among countries of the Eastern Nile Basin, focusing on water management, energy, food, environment improvement and trade development. 3.      The Chief of the Defense, Foreign and Security Affairs Committee at the Ethiopian parliament requested more information on the controversial issue of water security, and called for determining  the countries which have voted against it, and the current negotiations status in this regard. * Special advisor to the Ethiopian Foreign Minister and former Director-General of the Legal Department at the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry,  Ambassador Girma Amare, commented that the term "water security" has been reached to resolve  the most sensitive issues in the draft framework cooperation agreement, which is the relation between the new framework agreement and the existing ones. However, no precise definition has been agreed upon yet for this term. The Ambassador added that the Ministers of Water Resources, in their last meeting in Entebbe in June 2007, did not reached an agreement on this article since seven countries have agreed on the text of the proposed article while two countries have voted against it (the countries were not named). It was agreed to refer the article to the Presidents for a decision. 4.      The Executive Director of the Nile Basin Initiative responded to the inquiries made by the parliament members by stressing the absolute ownership of the Nile Basin countries to these projects, by defining them and setting the priorities for their implementation. The Director also indicated that the initiative basically relies on the contribution of member countries in addition to the donor countries. 5.      The Foreign Ministry delegation mentioned that this is the first meeting to reinforce cooperation and dialogue and assert trust among the Nile Basin countries. 6.      Dr. Ahmed Khaled El Dow (ENTRO) also reviewed the current ENTRO activities, and the field studies concerning the cooperation experience in the Senegal River to benefit from it in the Nile Basin projects. * The Foreign Ministry delegation stated that the Senegal River experience proves the importance of political will in rendering cooperation among the countries of the same river a success, and that this is available in the Nile Basin countries. The delegation also highlighted that this experience shows the importance of asserting trust among the countries of the same river basin. The Ethiopian Governmental Newspaper, The Ethiopian Herald, published in its issue on the 9th of August the most significant points tackled during the visit of the Egyptian and Sudanese parliamentary delegations. The Embassy noted the obvious interest demonstrated by the Ethiopian press in following the various activities of the Egyptian parliamentary delegation's visit to Ethiopia.