Ethiopian Ambassador to Egypt Taye Atske-Selassie said that the nine-party ministerial meetings which began in Sudan on Wednesday will iron out the differences between Sudan, Egypt, and his country regarding the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The Sudan meetings will be held over two days with the participation of ministers of water resources and foreign affairs, as well as intelligence service officials from Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt, said Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aaty on Monday. The Ethiopian ambassador told Daily News Egypt that the meeting between the three countries' officials will address the outstanding and technical issues of the dam following the directions of their leaders at their meeting in early 2018. At the end of January, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and former prime minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn held a summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and they came out of the meeting holding hands as a sign of reaching an agreement. However, Desalegn unexpectedly resigned in the middle of February, which delayed the negotiations once again. Egypt is afraid that the GERD will affect its historic share of the Nile River's water, while Ethiopia is determined to establish it for development purposes, according to previous official statements.
