Meetings of the technical and legal committees of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have reached an agreement roughly taking shape on a timetable for filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to informed Egyptian sources on Friday. The sources, concerned with the negotiations, indicated that the meetings, held on Wednesday and Thursday in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, witnessed a convergence of views in some situations despite the persistence of differences on other points. These technical and legal meetings took place in the presence of representatives from the US Treasury and the World Bank, the sources said, finalizing preparations for a rough draft agreement to fill and operate the GERD. A coordination mechanism was discussed with regard to filling and operating GERD in coordination with the Sudanese dams, and the High Dam, to minimize the damages to the downstream countries, especially Egypt, the sources stated. They added that the Ethiopian side explained the details of its suggested plan to fill GERD within approximately four to seven years.

Source: Egypt Independent January 25, 2020 08:03 UTC