GERD Talks Kick Off in Washington

NaDa Mustafa

The final round of talks among Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan Foreign and water ministers over the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam ( GERD) is set to kick off later Wednesday in Washington, under the auspices of US Treasury secretary and the World Bank (WB) president.

The two-day meetings aim at reviewing the final draft of the agreement on the timetable for the filling and operation of GERD, and the mechanism for dealing with droughts.

Technical and legal experts of the three countries have been negotiating over the last 5 days in Washington following the previous ministerial meeting which took place late January.

It is worth mentioning, the three countries finally reached an agreement on disputing issues regarding the GERD, according to a joint statement released on Friday.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Water Resources of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan and their delegations met with the US Secretary of the Treasury and the President of the World Bank, participating as observers in negotiations on the filling and operation of the GERD, in Washington, D.C. on January 28-31, 2020.

At the conclusion of the meetings, the ministers reached an agreement on the following issues, subject to the final signing of the comprehensive agreement:

a schedule for a stage-based filling plan of the GERD

a mitigation mechanism for the filling of the GERD during drought, prolonged drought, and prolonged periods of dry years

a mitigation mechanism for the annual and long-term operation of the GERD in drought, prolonged drought, and prolonged periods of dry years.

Nawal Sayed contributed to this article