CAIRO, Mar 3 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, held talks in Cairo with visiting European Union’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Annette Weber, on the developments of Ethiopia’s grand dam built on the Nile River.
During the meeting, the two officials discussed the current situation of tripartite negotiations, between Egypt, Sudan, and their upstream counterpart, Ethiopia, regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said the Egyptian Water Ministry, in a statement yesterday.
Abdel-Aty highlighted “the great flexibility shown by Egypt, during the various stages of negotiation, due to its desire to reach an agreement and build confidence,” according to the statement.
He added, achieving cooperation requires “political will and seriousness” on the part of Ethiopia, to reach an agreement regarding the filling and operation of the GERD.
The Egyptian minister stressed that, “reaching an agreement on the GERD would pave the way for achieving regional cooperation and integration.”
For her part, Weber said, the EU seeks to advance negotiations regarding the Ethiopian dam, with a bid to reach an agreement that satisfies all parties and guarantees the stability and development of all concerned countries.
The EU envoy urged reaching a tripartite agreement, that would also meet the requirements of regional integration, through the interconnection between water and energy, infrastructure and trade in light of climate change.
Ethiopia started building the dam in 2011, while Egypt is concerned it might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-metre annual share of the Nile water, and Sudan is also worried about its 18.5-billion-cubic-metre annual share.
Decade-long tripartite negotiations failed to reach an agreement, regulating the filling and operation of the dam, including mediations by the U.S. and the African Union.
In Feb, Ethiopia announced it began operation of the first two turbines of its multi-billion-dollar hydropower dam, to generate electricity. Egypt, in response, sent a new letter to the United Nations Security Council, to protest the move.– NNN-MENA
