Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly discussed with the country's higher committee on Nile water on Monday the latest developments on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a few days before the next round of the US-brokered negotiations slated for Thursday and Friday in Washington. The meeting was attended by Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati and representatives of the defence and foreign ministries as well as the General Intelligence. Earlier this month, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan agreed to entrust the US and the World Bank with the preparation of the final agreement on the filling and operation of the Ethiopian dam to be signed by the end of this month, a joint statement by the five parties read. However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that it could take "months" to resolve the dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt over the massive dam on the Nile. Tensions have been building between Egypt and Ethiopia in recent months after talks on the technical details governing the operation of the dam had failed to make progress. Ethiopia hopes that the massive $4.8 billion project on the Blue Nile, which has been under construction since 2011, will allow it to become Africa's largest power exporter, but Cairo fears the project will diminish its water supply from the Nile, a lifeline for a country of 100 million people.
