"Egypt has been demanding an annual flow of 40 billion cubic metres of water from the Blue Nile during the filling of the dam's reservoir, as well as during drought and prolonged drought," Mohamed El-Sabei said. The statement comes a day after Ethiopian Water, Irrigation and Energy Minister Sileshi Bekele said that Egypt had dropped "some of the irrelevant issues" regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). According to his statements published by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) on Tuesday, Egypt allegedly dropped its previous request that Ethiopia release 49 billion cubic meters of water annually. He also added that a final agreement between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia would be signed next month. Ethiopia hopes that the GERD, which has been under construction since 2011, will allow it to become Africa’s biggest power exporter.

Source: Ethiopian News December 25, 2019 17:15 UTC