The first Nile Economist Forum took place in Entebbe – Uganda on the 16th and 17th of May of 2017, and gathered a total of 44 participants – including representatives from all ten Nile Basin riparian states, the NBI regional centres, as well as a large number of national, regional and international economists. The overarching objective of the Forum has been to generate ‘sound economic analyses which is considered to be required to guide decision-making processes, and the development and assessment of policy options and continue to build the case for cooperative management and development of the Nile water resources’. Ultimately, the Forum aims to support the Nile Basin cooperation by broadening the deliberations and thus the solution space of alternative, sustainable management and development options through the inclusion of economic perspectives. This includes
analyses and quantification of options beyond the physical volumes of water to include economic valuation of water in alternative uses, so that a broader range of management, development and investment options can be generated.

This Economist Forum represented a first step to establish a sounding board to further the riparian dialogue, sparking new ideas for cooperation, co-development of solutions, and an economic analysis of alternative development options. It has already contribute to enrich the basin-wide discourse on options for cooperative management and development with an economic perspective. Further, it will give place to regular “think tank” of influential economics from across the Nile region to jointly reflect on ongoing economic research on the basin and provide ideas to the Nile Basin cooperation process from the perspective of economic policy-making. This report is an attempt to capture the main discussions and recommendations from the forum, which can be used as a tool to communicate more
broadly to decision-makers and the public to add economic perspectives to the basin-wide dialogue.