Egypt's FM mobilizes support for GERD agreement prior to filling from African, US, European diplomats in Rome

CAIRO – 28 June 2021: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has discussed the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) with almost every counterpart on the sidelines of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS on Monday as the rain season approaches, and Ethiopia gears up to fill the colossal structure unilaterally.

 

Shoukry emphasized the need for a binding agreement on the filling and operation of GERD before the second filling in July with U.S. Secretary of State and the foreign ministers of France, the U.K., Congo, Guinea, and Kenya thus far.

Presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady told CBC channel on Sunday that Egypt has an unwavering position to achieve a fair binding agreement to preserve the “historical rights” of the two downstream nations, Sudan, and Egypt.

 

Rady said Egypt’s territory is a desert with no rain and the only source of water is the Nile, and that its share of water is 55 billion cubic meters and 500 cubic meters per capita in a year, emphasizing that this is considered severe water poverty according to the standards of the UN.

More than half of Egypt’s population works in agriculture, and 77 million Egyptians live on the agricultural plot. The water situation of Egypt cannot be exacerbated, and so a legally binding agreement is a must, Rady continued.