Egypt and Germany have agreed to cultivate a forest, the first to be irrigated by processed waste water.
It will be just the start and it will enable Egypt to make use of more than six million cubic meters of waste water that is otherwise dumped in the river or waterways and is harmful to the environment and health.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between Agriculture Minister Adel el Beltagi and a delegation of German investors earlier Tuesday.
The two sides agreed to plant the forest over 40 feddans in Serabiom area in Ismailia.
Egypt intends to cultivate a number of similar forests in the future.
The two sides agreed that Germany's Authority for Investment in Forests and the German Aid Body would provide the fund for the project, while the Egyptian government would provide the land and water.
If the pilot project succeeds, the Authority for Investment in Forests will plant forests on 1.5 million feddans on the marginal desert land all over Egypt.