Meeting to ratify final agreement over GERD kicks off in Washington

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is attending today 12 February a meeting to review the final version of a comprehensive agreement over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Washington.

Shoukry traveled to the U.S. on Monday to participate in talks with the foreign and irrigation ministers of Ethiopia and Sudan over GERD in a final bid to resolve months of stalemates between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the operation of the mega-dam.

The meetings, scheduled until tomorrow, come under an agreement by the parties to reconvene in Washington this month.

The spokesperson for Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed al-Sebaie has said this round will firmly focus on reaching solutions that satisfy the three parties, indicating that it was agreed to set a timetable for filling the dam, especially the procedures followed in the drought years.