Ethiopian Prime Minister to visit Cairo on Sunday: ambassador

Egypt Independent

Al-Masry Al-Youm

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will arrive at Cairo International Airport on Sunday morning heading a high-level delegation, Ethiopia’s Cairo ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie Amde said.

In statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Made said that Ahmed will meet the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as the two leaders will hold joint talks to discuss some bilateral issues of common interest.

The latest visit to Egypt by Ethiopian PM was in January by former PM Hailemariam Desalegn, during which he asserted that his country will not put Egyptians life at risk, as the disagreement between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan continues over the countries shares of Nile waters after Ethiopia completes constructions of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Ethiopia’s ambassador to Sudan, Mawtada Zoudi, said earlier this month that the construction of the GERD has passed 65% completion. Zoudi added that “work in the dam is in full swing.”

In 2011, Ethiopia started construction on the GERD over the Blue Nile River, one of the major sources of the water that forms the River Nile downstream. Ethiopians see it as is a great national project and a means of overcoming poverty. Egypt, however, fears the dam will affect its historic Nile water which it has had access to since the historic 1959 agreement with Sudan.

Egypt’s share of Nile water sits at 55.5 billion cubic meters, while Sudan’s quota is 18.5 billion cubic meters. This is in accordance with an agreement signed between the two downstream countries in 1959; Ethiopia is not part of this agreement.

Ethiopia has reassured Cairo that its water share will not be affected.

The dam is expected to reduce Egypt’s share of Nile waters, further limiting the country’s already scarce water resources.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

 Al-Masry Al-Youm. 2018

Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed to arrive in Egypt Saturday for meeting with Sisi

Ahram Online , Saturday 9 Jun 2018

Abiy
File Photo: Ethiopia’s PM Abiy Ahmed (Photo: Reuters)

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will arrive in Cairo on Saturday evening to meet Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, in his first visit to Egypt as premier.In an official statement, El-Sisi’s spokesman Bassam Rady said Ahmed will be in Egypt for two days and will talk to the president about “various issues.”

According to AfricaNews website, Ahmed is visiting Cairo after a visit to Uganda for talks with Egypt’s Sisi which will include the Nile Basin dynamics, regional security and trade.

The two leaders are scheduled to hold a press conference following their Sunday meeting, Rady said.

In May, an Egyptian delegation to Addis Ababa comprised of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and acting head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate Abbas Kamel formally invited Ahmed, who took office in April, to visit Cairo.

The invitation came after Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan reached an agreement on the next steps to reconcile their differences on the under-construction Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, following months of stalemate in negotiations between the three countries.

Over the past seven years, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have held several rounds of talks on the dam’s anticipated impact on Nile water resources.

Egypt has repeatedly voiced concerns that the rate of filling the reservoirs of the GERD could reduce its share of Nile water, which Ethiopia denies.

During the negotiations, the parties agreed to five new points and renewed their commitment to the earlier Declaration of Principles, which was signed in Khartoum in March 2015.

The three countries agreed to have the involved parties sent their comments on the initial technical report to the French technical consultancy firm which issued it, hold a tripartite summit meeting every six months, and establish a joint investment fund and establish an independent scientific group to reconcile their differing views on the dam.

A tripartite meeting will be held in Cairo in the presence of representatives of the consultancy firm to discuss the responses to the inquiries sent by the three countries.

That meeting will be followed by another tripartite meeting with firm representatives in Cairo on 18-19 June.

Ethiopia hopes to be able to export electricity generated by the dam, which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa.

 

Source    –   Al