Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have agreed to continue negotiations in a bid to finalize a draft agreement on the disputed Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said at the end of tripartite consultations held on Tuesday
CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2020) Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have agreed to continue negotiations in a bid to finalize a draft agreement on the disputed Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said at the end of tripartite consultations held on Tuesday.
Earlier in the week, the chairman of the African Union (AU) and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said that a new round of the trilateral talks on the GERD dispute will take place on October 27 after a seven-week break. Ramaphosa expressed confidence that the parties would reach an agreement on outstanding dam issues, including technical and legal aspects.
"The meeting ended with a decision that Sudan - as the chairing state in the trilateral negotiations - will send an invitation to hold meetings during the week with a view to ending the consolidation and finalizing the draft agreement on the dam, which the parties began to prepare during the last round of talks," the ministry said in a statement.
The meeting, which was held under the auspices of South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, was attended by the ministers of foreign affairs, irrigation and water resources of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, the statement read.
During the negotiations, Cairo affirmed the need to reach an agreement that would be mandatory for the talks' participants and also set out the procedure for filling and launching the dam beneficially for all the parties involved in the issue.
Ethiopia has long been deadlocked in the Nile dam dispute with Sudan and Egypt, which fear that Addis Ababa's mega hydroelectric project, which has been under construction since 2011, would reduce their access to water. The talks between the three countries are being mediated by South Africa, the current holder of the AU chairmanship.
