Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Egypt Says Ready to Resume GERD Negotiations


Fri 22 May 2020 | 01:02 PM
Basant ahmed

Egypt expressed its readiness to engage in the negotiating process to complete the remaining side of the agreement of filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and participate in the next meeting, according to the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Egypt also stressed that this meeting should be serious and constructive one to reach a fair, balanced and comprehensive agreement that preserves Egypt's water interests and takes into account the interests of Ethiopia and Sudan.

On Thursday, Sudanese Prime Minister Dr. Abdullah Hamdock, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, held a meeting during which it was agreed that the three parties ( Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan) would return to the negotiating table to complete the remaining part of the agreement of filling and operating the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,

Late February, the Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources announced that Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have received a draft agreement from the U.S. Treasury on the mechanisms of filling and operating the GERD, which has been under negotiation among the three countries for more than six years.

Since last November, the United States and the World Bank interfered as mediators to resolve the differences among the three countries over the GERD.

Ethiopia has been building the Renaissance Dam, since 2001, at a cost of $6 billion on the Blue Nile, the main branch of the Nile. The dam raises the concerns of Sudan and Egypt in terms of influencing their supply of Nile water.