Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has confirmed the negotiation talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will resume on Monday, reported Arab News.
Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan have been in a political deadlock over the filling and operation of the mega Nile dam. The negotiation talks between the leaders of the three countries have made little progress in resolving outstanding issues.
Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Ambassador Dina Mufti said that the country could not reach a deal that stipulated the passage of specific quotas of water from the dam to the downstream countries.
During a media briefing, Mufti said Ethiopia’s proposal shows the government’s commitment to taking into account the concerns of the downstream countries about possible droughts that may occur in the future.
He said the government was anticipating such concerns and was taking droughts into account and dealing with them. He added that Ethiopia had also confirmed in its proposal that it would continue with the filling of the dam and not address the issue of sustainable sharing of the Nile’s water.
“Water sharing is not limited to the three countries, there are Nile Basin countries that you must be involved with,” Mufti said.
He expressed hope that the negotiation talks would be successful and that an agreement about the rules for filling the dam would be reached as soon as possible. He said that his government is committed to continue the negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues.
Last week, Egypt and Sudan opted out of the latest round of negotiation talks over the Renaissance Dam as they planned to hold “internal consultations on the Ethiopian bid”. The decision to opt out was taken from the talks was taken after Ethiopia’s water minister released a letter that included draft guidelines and rules for filling the dam.
Egypt said the Ethiopian letter contradicted what was agreed upon in the meetings headed by the water ministers.
