Intensive consultations underway for Ethiopia's dam meeting

Adviser for Irrigation Minister and Spokesman for the dam's commission Alaa Yassin said Saturday intensive consultations are underway to determine a deadline for the scheduled ministerial meeting to discuss the differences among the implementing consultant offices for the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

In a statement, Yassin added that the meeting's date will be announced upon the arrival of the official confirmation from Ethiopia and Sudan.

Water sharing will not be on the agenda of the meeting, the adviser stressed.

The meeting will only focus on resolving differences, in light of the principles agreement signed between the leaders of the three countries in March, he added.

On Uganda's declaration of building a dam on the Nile to produce 600 megawatts of electricity at a cost up to $ 2 billion, Yassin said that dams on the White Nile do not harm Egypt.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's new Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy Motuma Mekassa told local media that his country will resume negotiations with Egypt and Sudan.

The minister added that he will attend the next technical committee meeting on the Renaissance dam to discuss options presented by Cairo during the last period to resume negotiations.