Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan agree on substitute to Deltares

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have agreed in principle on a substitute to the Dutch consultancy firm Deltares to work with the French company BRL on the technical studies of Ethiopia Renaissance Dam, reliable sources said.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said if no agreement was reached on settling bones of contention with the Dutch company or choosing a substitute, another meeting will be held two weeks later in Khartoum.

The second round of the six-way meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and water resources of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia opened on Sunday.

The six-party meeting tackles technical aspects of the deadlocked Renaissance Dam talks.

The first round of the six-party meeting was held on December 11.

The three states have previously agreed on the importance of holding the six-party meeting comprising the irrigation and foreign ministers of the three states ahead of the tripartite meeting of irrigation ministers only to find a way to expedite technical studies on the dam, especially by settling the problems between the French and Dutch consultancy firms, BRL and Deltares respectively, in charge of the technical studies of the dam.

The last tripartite meeting failed to achieve a breakthrough so that it was important to hold the six-party meeting.

The six-party meeting also discusses different scenarios if the two companies did not reach an agreement on ways to perform the required studies.

The Dutch company - that would be in charge of 30 percent of the workload - announced its withdrawal in September, but Egypt rejected allowing one consultancy firm to be in charge of the studies.

Source: MENA