Hours ago, US Treasury Department said that the foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will meet in Washington on January 13th to try to reach an agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The remarks came following a meeting between foreign ministers and ministers of water resources in the three African countries in Washington on Monday with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and World Bank President David Malpass, where the different sides tried to resolve disputes over the $ 4 billion dam, in the second such meeting in Washington since early November.
Ethiopia says the hydroelectric dam will be the largest in Africa and will play a crucial role in its economic development, but Egypt fears that filling the dam reservoir on the tributary of the Blue Nile will restrict the already scarce water supply from the Nile River, on which the country depends almost entirely.
"The foreign ministers are looking forward to the meeting in Washington, DC, on January 13, 2020, to review the results of the upcoming technical meetings in Khartoum and Addis Ababa with the aim of finalizing an agreement," the statement said.
He added that the ministers agreed that technical meetings should try to set rules and guidelines for filling and operating the dam and determining drought conditions and measures to mitigate the effects of drought.
Earlier at mid November, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia's ministers attended in Addis Ababa, the first of four meetings agreed upon to break the deadlock in talks over the filling and operation of GERD.
The meeting, which was attended by the water ministers and technical delegations of the three countries, came nearly a week after the foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed during a US Treasury Department brokered meeting in Washington to work towards reaching a deal over the filling and operation of the GERD.
Follow the latest news on Google News
