UPDATE: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia summit on GERD kicks off

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Mon, 29 Jan 2018 - 07:09 GMT

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Mon, 29 Jan 2018 - 07:09 GMT

Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi (R), the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (C) and Sudanese counterpart, Omar Hassan al-Bashir (L) during a tripartite summit at the AU's 30th summit on Jan.29, 2018 - Egypt Today

Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi (R), the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (C) and Sudanese counterpart, Omar Hassan al-Bashir (L) during a tripartite summit at the AU's 30th summit on Jan.29, 2018 - Egypt Today

29 January 2018: A tripartite summit between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia on a presidential level convened on Monday on the sideline of the 30th summit of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn are set to discuss the controversial issue of Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) at Sisi's presidential residence in Addis Ababa.

WhatsApp Image 2018-01-29 at 10.20.47 AM
Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi (R), the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn (C) and Sudanese counterpart, Omar Hassan al-Bashir (L) during a tripartite summit at the AU's 30th summit on Jan.29, 2018 - Egypt Today


The talks are viewed as another bid by the three African leaders to resolve the stalled negotiations regarding the GERD. A joint statement is expected to be released on the outcomes of the talks.

The two-day AU summit will end on Monday.

On January 22, diplomatic sources told Egypt Today that Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn suggested holding a tripartite summit with the leaders of Nile downstream countries (Egypt and Sudan) on the sidelines of the AU Summit, during his visit to Cairo on January 20.

The summit follows years of negotiations, since May 2011, between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over GERD. Egypt has voiced its concerns regarding the dam’s capacity of water storage, fearing that it may negatively affects its share of Nile water.

However, Ethiopia has repeatedly denied any negative affect for the GERD on Egypt’s share of the Nile water, as stipulated in the statements made by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn during his official visit to Cairo last week.

A day after finishing his visit, Desalegn asserted Ethiopia’s rejection to include the World Bank in the tripartite technical committee’s talks regarding the dam as suggested by Egypt.

Egypt has previously approved the report prepared by PRL Consulting Company on the guidelines that should be followed during GERD construction period; however, Ethiopia and Sudan rejected the findings of the report, crippling the continuation of the necessary studies to establish the dam.

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