Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit held talks with Canada’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Oliphant in Cairo on Monday.
Abou Gheit underlined the importance of maintaining Egypt and Sudan’s water rights.
Cairo and Khartoum have repeatedly emphasized their rejection of all unilateral measures with regard to filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) before reaching a legally binding agreement in a way that achieves the three countries’ common interests.
Since 2011, the African Union-sponsored rounds of talks between Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa over the dam’s operation and filling have faltered.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly underscored his country’s political desire to reach a legally- binding agreement on the GERD’s filling and operation within an appropriate timeframe, which would reinforce regional security and stability under the rules of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
In June 2021, the Arab League held an extraordinary meeting in Doha at the level of foreign ministers to discuss the issue.
Aboul Gheit and Oliphant also discussed bilateral ties and means of bolstering them in various fields, said an official Arab League source.
They reviewed regional and international developments, notably developments in the Palestinian Territories.
Aboul Gheit reiterated the need to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, end the Israeli occupation of Palestine and establish an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He urged Canada to work on implementing this goal, in addition to declaring its support to the two-state solution.
The source said the meeting also tackled the developments in the Ukrainian crisis and its impact on global food security.
