The Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and his Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed stressed on Thursday during a virtual meeting on the importance of returning to the negotiating table on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The Ethiopian Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy Seleshi Bekele said that the process of building the Renaissance Dam has reached 73%, indicating that the initial mobilization of the dam reservoir will begin in July.
This came in a briefing by Bekele to the ambassadors residing in Addis Ababa regarding the progress of the dam's construction, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported on Wednesday.
The minister highlighted, during the briefing, the negotiations that took place between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan regarding the dam.
Abiy provided information on the issues raised and highlighted the role the dam will play in strengthening the economies of three countries concerned.
"An agreement was made for technical level discussions to continue, led by the Ministers of Water Affairs of the countries," ENA added.
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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed alongside high-level delegation during the virtual talks[/caption]
Reasons for the failure of GERD negotiations
The agency added that the minister explained the reasons for the failure of negotiations in which the United States and the World Bank participated in addressing the dispute between the three countries.
The Ethiopian minister stressed that the dam 'will not cause any harm to the downstream countries'.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that on May 1, Egypt sent a letter to the President of the UN Security Council regarding the GERD crisis after Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan failed to reach an agreement on its filling and operation.
Egypt and Sudan have rejected an Ethiopian agreement issued on April 10 proposing a "partial agreement" that covers only the first phase of filling.
Ethiopia began construction work on the dam in 2011 on the Blue Nile (the main tributary of the Nile) with the aim of generating electricity, while Egypt fears its impact on its share of water amounting to 55.5 billion cubic meters.
It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly held a virtual meeting last Tuesday with his Hamdok on the renaissance dam.
The Sudanese Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources announced earlier that Sudan rejected Ethiopia’s proposal to sign a partial agreement on filling the GERD, which is expected to take place next July.
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