Kuwait affirms support for Egypt’s water rights

CAIRO – 17 July 2021: Kuwait affirms its support for Egypt in facing all the challenges it faces, particularly in the issue of the controversial Grad Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said Kuwait’s National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim in a conference on Friday with the Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives Hanafi Jabali 

 

“Kuwait's leadership, government, parliament, and people affirm their support for Egypt in facing all the challenges it faces,” Al-Ghanim was quoted by Veto Gate.

 

Four days ago, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Kuwait’s National Assembly Mr. Marzouq Al-Ghanim in the presence of Jabali and Kuwait’s Ambassador to Cairo Mohammed Al-Thuwaikh, said the Egyptian presidency in a statement.

 

“The President stressed the special Egyptian-Kuwaiti relationship and Egypt's keenness to continue developing cooperation between the two countries in all fields as well as at various official and popular levels,” the statement said.

 

The President further expressed his appreciation for the generous treatment the Egyptian community has received in Kuwait.

 

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

 

The three countries have held several tripartite meetings since 2014 to reach a comprehensive agreement on the dam’s filling and operation. However, no final agreement has been reached yet and each party blames the other for the failure of the negotiations.

 

In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles, per which the downstream countries should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam, whose capacity is 74 billion cubic meters and is planned to generate 6,000 megawatts per annum through 16 turbines.

 

In mid-July 2020, Ethiopian authorities unilaterally carried out the first phase of the filling process with 4.9 billion cubic meters. It now also started the second phase of the filling unilaterally without reaching a comprehensive agreement on the dam’s filling and operation.