This archive report was first published on 8 November 2019.
On November 6, 2019, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan met at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, U.S. to discuss the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a massive hydroelectric project situated on the border between Ethiopia and Sudan.
According to a joint statement released after the meeting, the ministers agreed to work towards resolving their dispute over the filling and operation of the dam by January 15, 2020. They also agreed to attend further meetings in Washington on December 9 and January 13 to assess progress in their negotiations.
“The ministers reaffirmed their joint commitment to reach a comprehensive, cooperative, adaptive, sustainable, and mutually beneficial agreement on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and to establish a clear process for fulfilling that commitment in accordance with the 2015 Declaration of Principles,” the ministers said in the statement.
Egypt fears that the filling of the dam reservoir on the Blue Nile tributary will restrict already scarce supplies of water from the Nile, on which the country is almost entirely dependent. Sudan is also downriver from the project.
However, Ethiopia sees the dam as crucial to its economic development. Water ministers of the three countries will hold four meetings in Washington, attended by the Treasury and World Bank, according to the joint statement.
“If an agreement is not reached by January 15, 2020, the foreign ministers agree that Article 10 of the 2015 Declaration of Principles will be invoked,” the statement said. This would require an international mediator to help resolve the dispute.
