The 10 Nile basin countries have come together within the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) to realize a shared vision ‘to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefits from, the common Nile Basin water resources’ . The substantive elements of the NBI Shared Vision Programme and the multi-sectoral investment planning under the Subsidiary Action Programmes are aimed to translate this shared vision into concreate activities and projects.
Italian Cooperation and FAO have been instrumental in supporting this process for some 10 years with detailed support to hydrological modelling, hydrometric services, and latterly, water resource management information products that are fed directly into the NBI through the current project “Information Products for Nile Basin Water Resources Management” (GCP/INT/945/ITA).

The Forum was opened to a selected group of experts/professionals involved in the management of water resources from different academic backgrounds (pure and applied sciences and social and human sciences), professional sectors, policy makers, representatives of national institutions, members of international organizations and NGO's, as well as from different parts of the world, in particular from (some of) the Nile basin countries. It offered the chance for a multidisciplinary discussion to examine solutions regarding the prospects for water and food security in the Nile basin.
The Forum was based on both the results of the FAO's “Information Products for Nile Basin Water Resources Management” (GCP/INT/945/ITA) ”, financed by the Italian MFA, and the analysis prepared under the project, in cooperation with LNCV, that was presented and discussed in the first session of the Forum.