Egypt keen to reach fair deal on Ethiopia's Nile dam: minister

CAIRO, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Aati stressed on Monday the importance of reaching a fair deal on the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD), official MENA news agency reported.

Egypt will not be a party to any agreement that does not preserve its water rights and interests, Abdel-Aati told lawmakers.

He underlined that the talks are now focused on the declaration of principles deal that was signed two years ago.

The minister announced that Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will head to Ethiopia this week before a visit planned by his Sudanese counterpart to Egypt next week as part of the negotiations aiming at reaching a deal concerning the Ethiopian dam.

Egypt is worried about its annual share of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile River water amid the GERD's rapid construction.

Egypt's ties with Ethiopia have seen ups and downs since the latter started the dam project in April 2011 as the Arab country has been suffering from turmoil following an uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

When President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi took office in 2014, he showed understanding of Ethiopia's aspiration for development through the GERD that would produce around 6,000 megawatts of electricity to the country.

In March 2015, the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed an initial cooperation deal on the principles of sharing the Nile River water and the construction of the GERD, which will be Africa's largest dam upon completion.

Earlier in 2010, an agreement was signed among some Nile Basin states in Uganda's Entebbe about the sharing of the Nile River water, but it was rejected by Egypt and its downstream partner Sudan, citing the deal affects their usual annual share of the Nile water. Enditem