The Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD)
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan began the second round of trilateral negotiations in Addis Ababa, to resolve the issue of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being built on the Nile River.
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam affirmed approaching the meetings in Addis Ababa “with seriousness and goodwill as always.”
According to Sewilam, Egypt is looking for a “fair and balanced” agreement to ensure water security, as well as the interests of Ethiopia and Sudan.
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan began the first round of negotiations in Cairo on Aug 27-28 to reach an agreement to adjust the rules for reservoir filling and GERD operation.
The three sides expressed hope that an agreement could be reached by the end of this year.
The new round of negotiations takes place nearly two weeks after Ethiopia announced it had completed the GERD ‘s fourth and final unilateral reservoir filling .
Minister Sewilam asserted that filling Ethiopia’s GERD reservoir without an agreement with the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan, violated the agreement on the Declaration of Principles signed between the three countries in 2015. as well as international law.
He added that the filling of the reservoir has cast a negative shadow on the negotiation process and threatened the success of the negotiations. The Egyptian Irrigation Minister emphasized that there are various technical and legal solutions that could facilitate a legally binding agreement that meets the interests of all three countries.
GERD is located on the Blue Nile branch, one of the two main branches of the Nile River , which supplies 97% of Egypt’s water needs. — NNN-AGENCIES
