APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan have concluded their trilateral negotiations over the first filling and operations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The first round of negotiations has been taking place for the past two days in Egypt’s capital, Cairo.
“The parties exchanged views to reach a win-win situation,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said in a statement On Monday.
The delegations of the three Nile nations concluded their first round of negotiations with an agreement to continue their talks in Addis Ababa.
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Addis Ababa will host the next round of negotiation in September 2023, per MoFA.
“Ethiopia will endeavor to conclude the trilateral negotiation based on the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization while ensuring its rightful share of the Nile waters,” it said.
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam in a statement stressed the necessity of reaching a binding legal agreement on the rules for filling and operating the dam built in Ethiopia’s section of the Nile River, saying the agreement should take into account the interests and concerns of the three countries.
After years of fruitless negotiations, the two downstream countries Egypt and Sudan hope to reach a binding legal agreement with upstream Ethiopia that regulates the filling and operation of the GERD, according to the statement.
Sewilam underlined the importance of stopping any unilateral action in this regard; adding that filling and operating the dam without a prior tripartite agreement is a violation of the Declaration of Principles signed by the three countries in 2015.
MG/as/APA