Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will arrive at Cairo International Airport on Sunday morning heading a high-level delegation, Ethiopia’s Cairo ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie Amde said.
In statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Made said that Ahmed will meet the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as the two leaders will hold joint talks to discuss some bilateral issues of common interest.
The latest visit to Egypt by Ethiopian PM was in January by former PM Hailemariam Desalegn, during which he asserted that his country will not put Egyptians life at risk, as the disagreement between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan continues over the countries shares of Nile waters after Ethiopia completes constructions of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Ethiopia’s ambassador to Sudan, Mawtada Zoudi, said earlier this month that the construction of the GERD has passed 65% completion. Zoudi added that “work in the dam is in full swing.”
In 2011, Ethiopia started construction on the GERD over the Blue Nile River, one of the major sources of the water that forms the River Nile downstream. Ethiopians see it as is a great national project and a means of overcoming poverty. Egypt, however, fears the dam will affect its historic Nile water which it has had access to since the historic 1959 agreement with Sudan.
Egypt’s share of Nile water sits at 55.5 billion cubic meters, while Sudan’s quota is 18.5 billion cubic meters. This is in accordance with an agreement signed between the two downstream countries in 1959; Ethiopia is not part of this agreement.
Ethiopia has reassured Cairo that its water share will not be affected.
The dam is expected to reduce Egypt’s share of Nile waters, further limiting the country’s already scarce water resources.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
