Intensive meetings to prepare for coming round of Ethiopian dam negotations

The Egyptian side to the six-way meetings on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam held intensive meetings to crystallize a common vision toward of the coming round of negotiations on the dam.

The meetings will be held on December 27-28 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum in the presence of the ministers of foreign affairs and irrigation of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

A source at the dam file said the meetings will be held on time and that there is no intention to delay or cancel them despite the developments in the region, warning against procrastination which would cause harm to Egypt's water rights.

The source asserted the importance of reaching results satisfactory to all parties as soon as possible before the construction of the dam becomes a fait accompli, pointing out that Egypt realizes the importance of the time element.

The meetings will also deal with refreshing technical talks on the dam, and will discuss concerns of the Egyptian side.

Water resources minister Hossam Moghazi had said that the ministers will discuss means to implement the declaration of principles signed by the three countries in March 2015, pointing out that meetings constitute a new level of negotiations and is a significant step towards addressing the concerns of the involved parties.

In late November, Egypt highlighted the importance of the overdue technical studies on the dam and their political significance amid the "alarming" speed of construction.

Talks reached a stalemate since September when the Dutch consultancy firm Deltares withdrew from its planned assessment of the dam, saying that the conditions imposed by the tripartite committee – which includes representatives from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, as well as the French consultancy firm BRL – did not provide sufficient guarantees to Deltares that an independent high-quality study could be carried out.

Source: MENA