CAIRO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian officials agreed to continue negotiations on Wednesday in Washington on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Atti "attended a meeting held by U.S. President Donald Trump with ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan," the statement said.
Shoukry underlined Egypt's appreciation for the efforts exerted by Trump and U.S. treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in this vital file.
On Tuesday, Egyptian, Ethiopian and Sudanese ministers for foreign affairs and water resumed talks on regulations that should be adopted to fill and operate the dam.
Four rounds of talks on the GERD were held with mediation of the U.S. and the World Bank to break the deadlock in the negotiations.
Egypt announced on Jan. 9 that the three countries failed to reach a consensus in their recent talks regarding the filling and operation of Ethiopia's new dam on their shared Nile River.
Egypt seeks a minimum annual flow of 40 billion cubic meters of water from the Blue Nile branch to its lands, while Ethiopia wants to allow an annual passage of 35 billion cubic meters only during the period of filling the dam and the time of drought.
Ethiopia started constructing the GERD in 2011 on the Blue Nile in the northern Ethiopia highlands, from where most of the Nile's waters flow.
The GERD is expected to produce over 6,000 megawatts of electricity and become Africa's largest hydropower dam upon completion.
