Egypt is ready to host new talks with neighbouring countries Ethiopia and Sudan on the disputed dam built by Ethiopia on the Nile, as part of an agreement reached in Washington in November.
The Washington agreement was reached last month to bring an end to the deadlock in their long-standing dispute over the river’s critical water supply.
The Ministers of Water Resources in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan are meeting on Monday and Tuesday for talks to agree on the rules of operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and filling its reservoir.
Ethiopia started building the $4.8 billion hydroelectric Grand Renaissance Dam in 2010 with the aim of becoming Africa’s biggest power exporter.
Because Egypt relies solely on the Nile for farming, industry and domestic water use, it fears that the dam will harm its supply. However, Ethiopia calls Egypt’s worries baseless.
The fresh talks in Egypt’s capital of Cairo are the second of four rounds agreed in Washington in November, during negotiations attended by the Foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as representatives of the U.S. government and the World Bank.
The third meeting in Khartoum is set to be decided following the conclusion of Monday and Tuesday’s meetings.
A fourth meeting will then be held in January in Addis Ababa, before a meeting of the foreign and water ministers of the three countries in Washington in mid-January 2020.
