Overview
ENTRO (Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office) is one of the three Centers of the Nile Basin Initiative, (NBI). The NBI was established on February 1999 by nine riparian countries as a transitional institution to embark on the realization of a jointly articulated Shared Vision: To achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization and benefit from the common Nile Basin water resources. One of the most important principles of NBI informing its organizational structuring and operations is the principle of subsidiary which enables formation of sub-groupings of two or more NBI member countries to exploit (or otherwise overcome) unique shared sub-basin hydrologic and other potentials (or constraints). The Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP) comprising Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan is one of two such subsidiary programs of the NBI.
ENSAP was established in 1999 also with its own vision, essentially similar to the NBI one, this time focused on and scaled down to Eastern Nile. Eastern Nile though linked to and forming one hydrologic unit of the entire Nile Basin, nevertheless bears unique features, making a compelling case for the three countries to form ENSAP. These features include hydrologic (e.g. this sub-basin supplies over 86% of the Nile flow over a 3-4 month period, characterized by seasonal and inter-annual variability); topographic (e.g. the cool, high and rugged Ethiopian highlands offer huge Hydropower generation and water saving potential); land degradation and environmental problems (which result in huge sediment load); cultural-historical (e.g. the three countries share common religion and intricate historical and cultural linkages); demographic ( e.g. the three countries make nearly two-thirds of the entire Nile Basin population), geographic (the three countries are geographically linked making interconnecting infrastructure power, road, rail road possibility) and finally economic (e.g. the three countries owing to scale could make laying foundation for a viable regional integration possibility).
Vision
To be a credible Eastern Nile institution fostering sustainable transboundary cooperative boundary cooperative water resource management and development; and promoting regional integration.
Mission
We work for the shared benefit of cooperation