Egyptian, Ethiopian FMs discuss Nile dam issue

Egypt's newly-appointed Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy on Sunday discussed with his Ethiopian counterpart Tedros Adhanom the Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia intends to build on the River Nile, a foreign ministry statement said. On a telephone call, Fahmy stressed the importance of holding the agreed technical consultations among Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to implement the recommendations of international expert committee that studied the project. Meanwhile, former assistant Foreign Minister for African affairs, Mona Omar, will arrive in Addis Ababa on Monday as a presidential envoy to meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister and current head of the African Union Hailemariam Desalegn. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Atty expressed " deep concern" that the Ethiopian government had not yet responded to an Egyptian invitation to discuss issues related to the Ethiopian dam. In June, the two countries agreed to start negotiations on recommendations of an international technical committee on the intended dam. Ethiopia's planned Renaissance Dam has been a source of concern for Egyptians who fear that the dam is going to negatively affect their annual share of Nile water which is currently 55.5 billion cubic meters.