Egypt’s irrigation minister visit Ethiopia over Renaissance Dam

Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Ati flew to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday for a visit to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and a tripartite ministerial meeting on technical studies related to the dam.

According to sources, Abdel-Ati will take part in the meeting with a view to following up on technical studies related to the possible impact of the dam on downstream countries. The minister will also join a trip to the GERD site, organized by the Ethiopian government, where he will observe construction work and explore technical details related to the work of the tripartite technical committee with Ethiopia and Sudan.

The Addis Ababa meeting has been much-anticipated, especially after Egypt voiced concerns in September about the inactivity of the tripartite technical committee assigned to study the effects of the dam due to a delay in meetings. The last meeting by technical experts was held in Sudan in mid-September, where experts discussed a preliminary report about the technical methodology of the studies planned by French firms BRL and Artelia.

BRL said last year that the studies were scheduled to start in late 2016 and should take 11 months. The 6,000-megawatt dam, which is slated for completion this year, is situated close to Ethiopia's border with Sudan. Ethiopia hopes it will be able to export electricity generated by the dam. Egypt, however, has expressed concerns that the dam might reduce its share of Nile water. Ethiopia maintains that the dam will not have any negative impact on Egypt or Sudan.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met his newly appointed Ethiopian counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu in the sideline of UN General Assembly meetings held in New York last month.

Shoukry and Gebeyehu discussed the course of bilateral relations between Egypt and Ethiopia, and coordination between them on various African issues; the pair also explored the possibility of joint tripartite negotiations over the Renaissance Dam, by including cooperation and coordination with Sudan.

In 2011, Ethiopia started construction on the Renaissance Dam over the Blue Nile River, one of the major sources of the water that later forms the River Nile downstream.

The dam is expected to be ready by 2017. Ethiopians see as is a great national project and a means of overcoming poverty.

Egypt fears the dam will affect its historic Nile water share of 55 billion square meters, which it has had access to since a 1959 agreement with Sudan. Ethiopia, meanwhile, has frequently reassured Cairo that its water share will not be affected.

Shoukry affirmed Egypt's full commitment to support and strengthen the existing cooperative path between the two countries, while expressing interest in hosting the meetings of the joint higher committee between the two countries as soon as possible.