Ethiopian Water Minister Alemayehu Tegenu (R) met with Sudan's Water Resources Minister Muattaz Salim (C) and Egyptian Water Minister Mohamed Muttalib (L) in Khartum, on Dec. 9, 2013. (AFP photo)
Khartoum – Water ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on Monday “successfully” held talks on an Ethiopian dam project, Sudan’s minister said, after Egypt’s objections delayed formation of a committee to implement expert advice.
Cairo fears the Grand Renaissance dam project could diminish its water supply.
“We have addressed a significant part of the issues on the follow-up of the implementation of the recommendations of the international panel of experts,” Sudan’s Water Resources and Electricity Minister, Muattaz Musa Abdallah Salim, said in a brief statement to reporters after the talks which lasted several hours.
At a meeting in Khartoum last month, ministers from the three nations failed to agree on the composition of the committee which would follow through on expert recommendations about the Grand Renaissance project, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti said earlier.
The experts’ report has not been made public, but Ethiopia has said it confirms that the impact on water levels is minimal.
Cairo had sought more studies about the dam’s effect on its water supply, which is almost entirely dependent on the Nile.
Egypt wanted international representatives on the committee but Ethiopia preferred national delegates, Karti said after the ministers’ first meeting in early November.
Read more.
—-
Related:
Next on Egypt’s to-do: Ethiopia and the Nile (Al Jazeera)
Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.
