FM, water resources minister leave for Khartoum for Ethiopia dam talks

Ministers Sameh Shoukry of Foreign Affairs and Hossam Moghazy of Water Resources left here Saturday for Khartoum for the second round of the six-way talks on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The meeting comprises the ministers of foreign affairs and water resources of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Shoukry and Moghazy said the meeting is scheduled to address the repercussions of establishing the dam and its impact on the Nile water quota allocated for Egypt and Sudan.

The six-party meeting tackles technical aspects of the deadlocked Renaissance Dam talks.

The first round of the six-party meeting was held on December 11.

The three states have previously agreed on the importance of holding the six-party meeting comprising the irrigation and foreign ministers of the three states ahead of the tripartite meeting of irrigation ministers only to find a way to expedite technical studies on the dam, especially by settling the problems between the French and Dutch consultancy firms, BRL and Deltares respectively, in charge of the technical studies of the dam.

The last tripartite meeting failed to achieve a breakthrough so that it was important to hold the six-party meeting.

The six-party meeting also discusses different scenarios if the two companies did not reach an agreement on ways to perform the required studies.

The Dutch company - that would be in charge of 30 percent of the workload - announced its withdrawal in September, but Egypt rejected allowing one consultancy firm to be in charge of the studies.