President Sisi: Egypt sought to reach common vision over GERD

CAIRO – 21 July 2022: Egypt believes in the unity of the Nile Basin countries. We sought to reach a common vision with Sudan and Ethiopia regarding the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, and reach a legal, binding and comprehensive agreement over filling and operating the dam, said President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Thursday.

In his speech after being awarded an Honorary degree from Belgrade University, President Sisi said that Egypt has adopted a set of rulings regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, stressing that the country believes in the unity of the purpose and destiny of the Nile Basin countries.

President Sisi also praised the Egyptian-Serbian relations, adding that Egypt supports its common goals with Serbia.

The President said that climate change represents a real threat to the international community, highlighting the necessity to deal with the phenomena of water scarcity, desertification and drought.

The dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia dates back to May 2011 when Ethiopia started building the dam; Egypt voiced concern over its water share [55.5 billion cubic meters].

Constructions in the Grand Renaissance Dam started on April 2, 2011 at a cost of $4.8 billion. It was built by the Italian construction and engineering company Salini Impergilo. The dam is located on the Blue Nile with a planned reservoir capacity of 74 billion cubic meters, and was expected to generate up to 6,000 megawatts of power.

However, it is estimated to generate only 3,000 megawatts, as the number of turbines to be installed has been reduced to 13 turbines down from 16.

On January 13, Ethiopia declared it would begin removing 17,000 hectares of forests in February, which would take 60 days, to be able to conduct the third filling of the dam without reaching a final binding agreement with the downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan].

The first filling of the GERD took place on July 1- 21, 2020 with 4.9 billion cubic meters, while the second was carried out on July 4 – 18, 2021 with around three billion cubic meters.