Egyptian diplomatic sources said that there is ongoing contacts between Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa to set a date for the next meeting of the committee, which includes foreign, and irrigation ministers, and heads of intelligence services in the three countries, to discuss the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The sources said that Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry invited his Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts to meet in Cairo for another round of talks.
Shoukry stressed that Egypt attaches great importance to restoring its relations with African brothers to achieve integration and common interests.
In an interview with the Extra-News channel on Thursday, Shoukry said that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has had a tendency since taking office towards Africa in order to restore Cairo’s close relations with the continent.
He expressed his regret that Cairo had not received a response to the invitation to hold a meeting on GERD, saying that the failure to respond means losing another chance to implement the mandate issued by the leaders of the three countries in their meeting on the sidelines of the African Union summit in January.
He pointed out that Egypt exerted all efforts during the Khartoum meeting, which was held in April, and negotiated in good faith and appreciation of the interests of partners, and proposed initiatives to meet the interests of all.
Shoukry said that everyone should know that no certain situation will be imposed on Egypt.
“We have had a month to reach a solution, and the rest of this month is 15 days, and there are a lot of outstanding issues,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
