CAIRO:The tripartite committee of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, tasked to negotiate the controversial Ethiopian dam, will meet on August 20-21 in Addis Ababa, Egyptian Minister of Irrigation Hossam Moghazy announced in a press conference Monday.
Addis Abab’s meeting is the eighth round of talks on the environmental and economic impacts of the the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the downstream countries; namely Egypt and Sudan.
During the lst tripartite meetings, held in Khartoum on July 22-25, the three countries failed to reach a final agreement on the workload of the two French and Dutch consultation firms, assigned to conduct studies on the dam’s impacts.
In his remarks on the outcomes of Sudan’s round meetings, Moghazy said the committee has reached an agreement on many points of differences concerning the studies. Hence, Addis Ababa meetings could witnesses signing contracts with the firms to conduct the required studies.
On August 12, each country will receive technical and financial offers from the two firms, and their representatives to meet in Addis Ababa.
Egypt has concerns over the construction of dam as it could negatively affect its 55 percent of Nile water share; meanwhile, Ethiopian says the dam is necessary for its development. After the talks were suspended between the three countries in 2012; it has resumed in August 2014