The new top diplomat described the United States and European Union as essential partners to Egypt, he adding, noting that he believed more in Egypt's soft power, thus he will seek to enhance the cultural and developmental dismensions in the foreign policy.

Ethiopian house speaker on 30 April said that the former Egyptian regime, over-thrown in a popular uprising earlier this year, was responsible for overshadowing relations with Ethiopia and creating tension over the issue of the Nile water.

El Gendi, the coordinator of the Public Diplomacy delegation’s visit, travelled to Uganda a few days ago and met with Museveni on the issue of the Nile water and asked the Ugandan President Museveni to contact the Ethiopian Prime Minister to arrange a meeting.

Upstream countries, looking to right what they say are historic wrongs, have joined in an attempt to break Egypt and Sudan’s near-monopoly on the water, threatening a crisis that Egyptian experts said could, at its most extreme, lead to war.

It is in the delta, on some of the most fertile land in the world, that rice farmers have been ordered to plant fewer acres to conserve water as Ethiopia and other nations threaten to siphon away millions of gallons before the river reaches Egypt.