Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed stressed the importance of the meeting, during which a format for trilateral cooperation on the Grand Renaissance HPP was discussed, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.
Earlier, a spokesman for the President of Egypt, Bassam Rady, said that Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan agreed during negotiations to create a technical committee to develop a final document on the Ethiopian Renaissance dam. Addis Ababa has pledged not to start filling the dam without such a document. Representatives of the African Union also participated in the negotiations.
"The importance of the extended meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly of heads of state and government of the African Union with the participation of Abiy Ahmed, President of Egypt (Abdel Fattah - ed.) el-Sisi, held in a videoconference on June 26 under the chairmanship of the President of South Africa (Cyril) Ramaphosa, was underlined. Sisi and Prime Minister of Sudan (Abdullah - ed.) Hamuka, which developed the format of trilateral cooperation to finalize a mutually acceptable agreement on hydroelectric power station "Renaissance", the message of the Foreign Ministry reads.
Lavrov confirmed the unchanged position of the Russian Federation on the need to find mutually acceptable solutions through the dialogue of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, taking into account the interests of each of the parties and with strict compliance with international law.
During the conversation, the parties also expressed interest in resuming the activities of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, projects in energy, education and military-technical cooperation as soon as the restrictions on COVID-19 are lifted.
Today, the Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov received the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Moscow, Ihab Nasr, at his request, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports. One of the topics was also the problem of using the waters of the Nile river.
"There was a confidential exchange of views on the situation in the Middle East and Africa, including the problems of resolving the crises in Libya, Syria and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as finding mutually acceptable solutions to the problem of using the waters of the Nile river. At the same time, Moscow and Cairo confirmed their commitment to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the fundamental principles of the UN Charter," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Ethiopia has been implementing a large-scale project to build the En-Nahda dam (Renaissance) on the Blue Nile since 2012. Its launch, according to experts, will inevitably lead to water shortages in Sudan and Egypt, located downstream. Since the start of construction, the three countries have held more than a dozen meetings to resolve issues of water distribution and the launch of the new facility, but disagreements remain.
According to local media, the construction of the dam, which is intended to become "the largest hydropower project in Africa", is completed by more than 74%. The full construction is planned to be completed in 2023. In early March, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachev said that filling the dam would begin in July, and by the end of the month, the reservoir should contain 4.9 billion cubic meters of water, electricity production would begin in February-March 2021.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Based on materials from RIA Novosti