Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan resumed negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Monday in Cairo, with the ministers of water and irrigation from the three parties present.
The meeting was part of the negotiation track that the three countries launched to finalize an agreement on the rules for filling and operating the GERD within four months.
The spokesperson of Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mohamed Ghanem, said: “Egypt is negotiating faithfully and seriously to reach a fair and balanced agreement that considers its current and future national interests and the common interests of the three countries.”
The meeting came after months of stalled negotiations over the filling and operation of the dam, which is expected to hold 74 billion cubic meters of water (about the same as the annual shares of Egypt and Sudan from the Nile).
Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sweilam, stressed the importance of a binding legal agreement on the rules for filling and operating the dam, taking into account the interests and concerns of the three countries.
Sweilam highlighted the importance of stopping any unilateral actions in this regard. He noted that filling and operating the dam without an agreement is a violation of the Declaration of Principles signed in 2015.
On 13 July, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met in Cairo to discuss the GERD issue and end the deadlock in the talks. The two leaders agreed to start urgent negotiations to finalize the agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.
In a joint statement, the two leaders said they would make “all the necessary efforts” to reach an agreement within four months. Ethiopia also reiterated its commitment not to harm Egypt’s and Sudan’s shares of water during the filling of the dam.
