Egypt declines Ethiopia’s suggestion to discuss contentious GERD points later

July 11, 2020 | Egypt Independent

Egypt has rejected Ethiopia’s suggestion that the points of disagreement with Egypt and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam should be decided on later.

For the eighth day in a row, talks on the GERD dilemma continued under the sponsorship of the African Union with representatives from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia alongside various observers.

On Friday, July 10, two meetings were held in parallel for technical and legal teams from the three countries, in an attempt to bridge views regarding contentious points in both tracks.

Observers from the US, EU and the African Union were present for these meetings.

During the Technical Committee’s meeting, Egypt put forward several alternative dealings in an effort to bring views closer regarding the measures to be implemented during drought seasons, in addition to the annual operating and filling rules.

It was then that Ethiopia suggested postponing the settlement for disagreements within the current negotiations, so as to be later referred to a technical committee formed under the agreement to follow up the implementation of the terms of the agreement.

Egypt rejected the idea, saying it was not possible to refer Egypt’s concerns regarding the major technical issues to a committee that would be decided after an agreement is signed.

Meanwhile, the Legal Committee’s discussions ended without consensus.

The technical committee meeting concluded with an agreement that Ethiopia would study the alternatives proposed by Egypt, with discussions to take place at the tripartite ministerial meeting to be held on Sunday, July 12.