KHARTOUM, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on Tuesday began a new round of talks on the filling and operation of the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Irrigation ministers from the three countries presented their own visions of the procedures to be followed during this round of talks, Sudan's Irrigation and Water Resources Ministry said in a statement.
It said that the three countries would work to integrate the proposed texts of draft agreements and submit a joint project to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the chairperson of the current session of African Union, on Aug. 28.
The statement mentioned the emergence of differences among the three countries relating to interpretation of the procedures of integrating the agreements as stated in the report of South Africa's foreign ministry.
Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have been negotiating under the African Union umbrella over the technical and legal issues relating to the filling and operation of the GERD.
Ethiopia, which started building the 4-billion-dollar dam project in 2011, expects to produce over 6,000 megawatts of electricity to advance its economic development.
However, Egypt and Sudan, the two downstream Nile Basin countries that rely on the river for their fresh water consumption, are deeply concerned that the dam might affect their share of the Nile water resources. Enditem
