Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia will continue their talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Wednesday, the Sudanese irrigation ministry said. The three countries will work on merging their three proposals for an agreement on the mega-dam, the Tuesday statement said, also noting that “differences had emerged” between the countries on the interpretation of the procedures to merge the draft agreements.
Once a merged agreement is finalised, it will be passed to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the current chair of the African Union, on 28 August.
The three countries exchanged suggestions on the final text of the agreement, and a technical as well as a legal expert from each country was chosen to participate in merging the three countries' texts, according to the Sudanese statement.
The Egyptian irrigation ministry also issued a statement about the talks on Tuesday.
According to the short release, the irrigation ministers of the three countries discussed the procedural aspects of the current course of the talks.
“The three countries exchanged suggestions concerning the agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD,” the statement said, adding that this new round of talks, which kicked off on Sunday, aims to reach a legally binding agreement on the issue.
The round of new negotiations is taking place under the auspices of the African Union and is being attended by observers from the US, the EU and the AU Commission.