US President Donald Trump has said Washington supports a "mutually beneficial" agreement among parties regarding an Ethiopian dam project on the Blue Nile.
Trump’s engagement in the talks seemed like a final attempt to exert pressure on Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve their dispute. The White House brought up economic privileges that help the three countries thrive in case they reached a solution.
His remarks came at a meeting in Washington among the US, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan late Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the White House.
"Today, President Donald J. Trump met with the foreign and water resources ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to discuss progress on Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam talks," it said. "The President reaffirmed United States support for a cooperative, sustainable, and mutually beneficial agreement among the parties.”
Trump emphasized that the US wants to see all the countries thrive and expressed hope they work together so that future generations may succeed and benefit from critical water resources.
The filling "will be executed in stages and will be undertaken in an adaptive and cooperative manner that takes into consideration the hydrological conditions of the Blue Nile and the potential impact of the filling on downstream reservoirs," said the statement.
The three foreign ministers "reaffirmed the importance of transboundary cooperation in the development of the Blue Nile to improve the lives of the people of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, and their shared commitment to concluding an agreement," it added.
They agreed on Wednesday to reconvene in Washington later this month to finalize an agreement on the dam on the Blue Nile that sparked a diplomatic crisis between Cairo and Addis Ababa. The ministers will hold technical and legal talks ahead of their Jan. 28-29 meeting in Washington, where they plan to finalize the agreement, the statement said.
A source from the US Treasury told Asharq Al-Awsat that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and World Bank President David Malpass also met with foreign ministers and water resources officials from the three countries.
Officials from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan said they have reached a preliminary agreement that should help clear the way for the filling and operation of the USD5 billion dam project.
In a joint statement, officials from the three countries said that they had agreed that the filing of the damn should be done in stages during the rainy season, which generally runs from July to August.
The dam is around 70 percent complete.
The Blue Nile – flowing from Ethiopia to Sudan – is a key stream given that its waters represent 85 percent of the river.
