Tripartite talks over Nile dam dispute end with no tangible results

Cairo, Aug 29 : The Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said the latest round of negotiations on the dispute involving the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile River concluded in Cairo with no "tangible results".

Stalled talks between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan had resumed on Sunday in the Egyptian capital over the long-running dispute regarding the GERD, reports Xinhua news agency.

After years of fruitless negotiations, "the new talks aimed to reach an agreement on the rules of filling and operation of the GERD", the Ministry said in a statement late Monday.

However, "tripartite talks did not witness any tangible change in the Ethiopian positions", it added.

"Egypt continues to exert utmost efforts to reach, as soon as possible, a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam that serves Cairos interests and positions of safeguarding water security, and avoiding the infliction of harm, while realising the mutual benefit of all three countries," it added.

All negotiating parties should adopt a comprehensive vision that will reflect positively on the upcoming rounds of negotiation, the statement said.

Ethiopia started filling the dam in 2020 despite the opposition of Egypt and Sudan, which eventually led to the suspension of relevant tripartite negotiations in 2021.

The country announced in July that the fourth filling of the dam would extend until September and the downstream countries would not be harmed.

Ethiopia started to build the GERD in 2011 and expects the giant hydropower project to generate more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity.

But Egypt and Sudan are worried that it might reduce their proportion of Nile water.

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