Ethiopia briefed Addis Ababa-based diplomatic community on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project.
The briefing was provided to the diplomats by Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Dr Engineer Sileshi Bekele and State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hirut Zemene.
They told the ambassadors about the trilateral meeting held between water ministers of the three countries on September 15 and 16 in Cairo, Egypt.
During the meeting, Dr Engineer Seleshi and Hirut also reflected Ethiopia’s stance regarding the filling process of reservoir of the dam and other related issues.
Diplomats and Ambassadors of African, European, America, Asian, and Middle East countries attended the meeting.
The next trilateral meeting between the three countries (Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt) will be held in Sudan as of October 3, 2019.
Ethiopia recently rejected a proposal tabled by Egypt regarding the filling process of reservoir of the dam.
Ethiopia rejected the proposal because it had breached the agreement signed between the three countries on fair and reasonable utilization of the waters of the Nile River, said Dr Engineer Seleshi.
According to the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) works on GERD project are progressing well.
Dr Abrham Belay, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EEP, told FBC that the project is now 68.3 percent complete and will be finalized in 2023.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed said finalizing the dam according to the timeline established is his government’s key priority.
Located in Benishangul Gumuz regional state, approximately 500 km North West of the capital Addis Ababa, GERD will be the largest dam in Africa with a total installed power of 6,450 MW at the end of the works.
