Irrigation Minister: GERD Is One of Major Challenges Facing Egypt

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, stressed that Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is one of the major challenges facing the water sector in Egypt nowadays. 

In his word before the 5th Annual Arab Water Forum, Abdel Aty added that Ethiopia proceeded to implement the filling process unilaterally without reaching an agreement with the downstream countries.

Moreover, the Egyptian Minister stressed that his country has engaged in negotiation rounds in good faith, seeking to explore all available avenues to reach a binding legal agreement regulating the dam's filling and operation processes, away from any unilateral approach that seeks to impose a fait accompli and ignore the legitimate rights of the other downstream states.

Last week, Egypt welcomed the presidential statement issued today by the Security Council urging Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to resume negotiations on the GERD.

This comes within the framework of the negotiating track led by the President of the African Union, with a view to drafting a binding legal agreement on the filling and operating of the Renaissance Dam.