By Nawal Sayed
CAIRO, Feb. 11 (SEE) – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed gave a painting as a gift to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi during a dinner banquet in Addis Ababa on the sideline of the African Union Summit.
The painting includes the Axum obelisk representing the Ethiopian civilization, the pyramids representing the Egyptian civilization and a sailboat a symbol of communication between the two peoples.
The Obelisk of Axum is a 4th-century AD, 24-metre-tall granite stele/obelisk, weighing 160 tones, in the city of Axum in Ethiopia.
The gift reflected how deep the relationship between the two leaders is as photographers took photos of Sisi and Abiy laughing loudly.
Following a tripartite summit between the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on Sunday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stated that the three countries did not reach a unified decision on the techniques of filling the reservoir of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) yet.
The foreign minister also said that the tripartite negotiations among the ministers of foreign affairs and water resources of the three countries witnessed an impasse over the past three months.
During the tripartite summit between Sisi, Sudanese counterpart Omar al- Bashir and Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of the 32nd session of the African Union Summit, it has been agreed to resume the talks in Cairo in February 2019, Shoukry added.
The three leaders stressed their commitment to abide by the Declaration of Principles signed by the countries on March 15, 2015.
