Shoukry to head for Khartoum to attend meeting on GERD

CAIRO - 3 April 2018: Foreign Minister Sameh Shourky will leave on Wednesday for Khartoum to take part in a meeting on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) involving foreign, irrigation ministers and heads of intelligence agencies in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Counselor Ahmed Abu Zeid said on Tuesday said the meeting comes within the framework of an agreement reached among the presidents of the three countries on the fringe of the African Summit held in Addis Ababa in January with the aim of removing any hardships facing negotiations of the three-way technical committee on the project of GERD dam.

The spokesman said the three president had agreed on approving an initial report on a special study to be conducted by a consultancy firm on the dam's potential effects on Egypt and Sudan.

He also said the meeting aims at affirming the agreements reached among the three leaders and the importance of abiding by the agreement of principles reached in 2015 especially concerning a special study on the dam's potential impact on the downstream countries; Egypt and Sudan.

Egypt is also looking forward to developing cooperation among the three countries in all fields in view of the vast potentials of cooperation in the investment, trade and technical cooperation fields, the spokesman noted.