Ethiopia welcomes Egypt’s change of heart over Nile water row

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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

An Egyptian government minister who visited Addis Ababa earlier this week has urged Ethiopia to halt construction of a multi-billion dollar hydroelectric dam project on the Nile’s upper reaches – but the request was denied.

(Sudan Tribune) – Ethiopia on Thursday commended Egypt’s unprecedented and an official decision to peacefully resolve a long-standing dispute with Addis Ababa over a controversial power plant project known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

“Ethiopia strongly welcomes Egypt’s interest to re-launch talk over the GERD and solve the problem through dialogue,” spokesperson for Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dina Mufti told journalists.

“Egypt has no other option except dialogue and win-win negotiation to find a solution that is acceptable by both sides,” he added.

Egypt’s newly elected president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has recently pledged to resolve the water dispute with Ethiopia through dialogue.

Ethiopian officials said that al-Sisi is expected to pay an official visit to Ethiopia soon probably making it his first trip to a foreign nation since he assumed office in June 8.

Ethiopian foreign minister Tedros Adhanom, who attended the new president’s inaugural ceremony in Cairo, has held meeting with al-Sisi and other high ranking officials over the multi-billion dollar power plant project.

During their discussion Adhanom has reaffirmed Ethiopia’s commitment for cooperation with Egypt based on mutual trust and confidence.

Al-Sisi and Adhanom have also agreed to reactivate the tripartite technical dialogue between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia and harmonize existing differences by high-level political consultations.

Addis Ababa insists the $ 4.6 billion dam project won’t adversely affect Egypt and Sudan instead the downstream countries will be benefited from the cheap and renewable hydro power processed electricity it generates. Read more

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