Sameh Shoukry left for Washington on Sunday to participate in Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia negotiations on the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile River, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday
CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2019) Sameh Shoukry left for Washington on Sunday to participate in Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia negotiations on the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile River, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
"The minister left for Washington at the invitation of the US administration to participate in the tripartite ministerial meeting of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, which will also be attended by the World Bank. The meeting, scheduled for November 6, will discuss the situation around the Renaissance Dam," the ministry said.
Since 2012, Ethiopia has been building what would become Africa's largest hydroelectric power plant when completed. Experts believe that when the GERD is launched, it will inevitably lead to water shortages in downstream-located Sudan and Egypt. The three states have held over a dozen talks since the start of the construction, but the disagreements persist.
The controversy spiked last week after media misquoted Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as declaring his country's readiness to wage war, if needed, to defend its right for the GERD construction.
On October 24, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi and Ethiopia's Ahmed agreed to resume negotiations, in particular by resuming "the operation of the independent technical negotiating commission in a more open and positive format." The agreement was reached at the Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum in Sochi.
