Shoukry heads to Khartoum for GERD meetings with Ethiopian, Sudanese officials
MEETING SET TO BE ATTENDED BY MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, WATERS, CHIEFS OF INTELLIGENCES
Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry headed on Wednesday to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, to take part in the ministerial meeting on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zaid.
The meeting is set to be attended by ministers of foreign affairs and water resources, as well as chiefs of intelligence of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
Abou Zaid added that the meeting comes in light of the previous agreement between the presidents of Egypt and Sudan and the former Ethiopian prime minister, during their meeting on the sidelines of the 30th African Union (AU) Summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
Following the meeting, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said that the three countries speak in unison regarding the GERD in a voice of mutual interest.
Abou Zaid said that the three leaders have agreed to facilitate the work of the tripartite committee and the technical firms assigned to prepare the technical report on the environmental impacts of the GERD.
According to Abou Zaid, Egypt will focus during the meeting on asserting what the three leaders have agreed on, particularly the commitment to implement the 2015 declaration of principles. Additionally, Egypt is looking forward to boosting cooperation with Ethiopia and Sudan.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, formerly known as the Millennium Dam, is under construction in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia, on the Blue Nile River. Construction of the Dam started in April 2011. However, Egypt has expressed concerns that the construction of the GERD could negatively affect its historic Nile water share of 55bn sqm, which it has had access to since a 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan.