Egypt’s Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources said on Wednesday that the first meeting among the irrigation ministers of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to discuss the resumption of negotiations over the Nile dam among was not positive as it couldn’t reach any significant result, reported Egypt Independent.
The Irrigation ministers held a meeting on Tuesday via video conference. International observers from the United States, the European Union, South Africa, and the president of the African Union were a part of the meeting.
The meeting was called at the Sudan government’s invitation three weeks after launching its initiative get the three countries to return to the negotiating table.
“It is difficult to describe the meeting as positive or as having reached any significant result. It focused on procedural issues related to the schedule of meetings, the subjects of discussions, and the role and number of observers,” a statement released by the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources read.
As per the statement, the meeting’s discussions reflected a trend on the Ethiopian side to want to reopen debate on all issues, including the proposals submitted by Ethiopia itself.
It added that Ethiopia is willing to discuss everything that was previously negotiated in the talks that took place in Washington in February for one more time. Ethiopia also appears to filling the dam’s reservoir in July 2020, according to the statement.
Notably, Ethiopia wants store a total of 18.4 billion cubic metres of water in the reservoir behind the dam over two years. But, Egypt and Sudan fear that allowing Addis Ababa to do this will set a dangerous precedent.
The statement said that at the end of the meeting, all parties agreed to hold another meeting in the presence of the international observers on June 10.
The Irrigation Ministry also detailed Egypt’s stand on the negotiations, saying Ethiopia must clearly declare that it had no intention of unilaterally filling the reservoir. It also wanted observers from the United States, the European Union and South Africa to act as “facilitators” and that the timeframe of the negotiations be limited to June 9 – 13.
