An investment fund between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to facilitate infrastructure development in the three countries will kick off this week, Sudan's Minister of State Osama Faisal said Sunday. In a press conference following an Arab Parliament session in Cairo, Faisal said the investment fund would include coordination between the three countries to execute development projects related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) for the welfare of the people of the three nations. The announcement by the Sudanese minister comes nearly a month after the three countries agreed on the establishment of the fund within the frame of a historic agreement to break the deadlock on GERD. The fund is expected to hold a meeting in Cairo 3-4 July, according to the agreement signed in May. A joint scientific study group to ensure equitable water sharing and utilisation by the three countries has also been established. Addis Ababa hopes to be able to export electricity generated by the $4 billion dam, which will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa. Egypt has repeatedly voiced concerns that the rate of filling the reservoir of GERD could reduce its share of Nile water, a claim that Ethiopia denies. Last month, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo that Ethiopia will not do anything to harm Egypt's share of Nile water. The Egyptian president has said stressed the importance of the Nile to the Egyptian people, describing it as Egypt's “sole lifeline,” while acknowledging the importance of development for the Ethiopian people.
