Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry asserted on Tuesday that the Document of the Declaration of Principles on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam with Ethiopia and Sudan guarantees Egypt's right to the Nile water.
In an interview with MENA Chief Editor Alaa Haydar and the chief editors of Al Akhbar, Al Ahram and Al Gomhuriya dailies, Shoukry added that the agreement also guarantees the Egyptian people live without worries over their right to water and at the same time guarantees the Ethiopian people's right achieve progress and development.
Shoukry denied reports to the effect that the agreement included any concessions on the part of Egypt.
He explained that the articles of the agreement have been approved unanimously by the Egyptian higher water committee under Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab which included in its membership representatives from ministries concerned and sovereign Egyptian departments who observed the nation's higher interests.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was clear in the message he delivered after the signing of the agreement when he affirmed that Egypt is desert country with no water resource other than the Nile, said the Egyptian top diplomat, quoting the president as retorting that therefore it is impossible to give in Egyptian water rights as it is a matter of life and death for the Egyptian people.
Shoukry added that the agreement is historic and was reached after several years of tension in Egyptian-Ethiopian relations that led to much lack of confidence and doubt.
Shoukry said that it was not acceptable to stand idle vis-a-vis that situation bilateral relations had reached, especially that Ethiopia started building the dam four years ago.
Therefore, he added, Egypt had to act to maintaining its water rights while observing the rights of others and what is more important, maintaining historical relations with Nile Basin and neighboring countries.
The agreement is considered a road map for action in the future as it lays down the bases for maintaining the Egyptian rights and helps promote confidence-building measures withing a political, legal and technical framework.
The Egyptian foreign minister highlighted on this score the first meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in Malabo last year, as helping improve bilateral relations.
He further underlined several meetings between both sides at the ministerial and technical levels that led to narrowing the gap of differences and viewpoints in a way that led both sides to work as a working team not as opponents.
Shoukry explained that the most important part of the agreement is setting a timetable for reaching a final agreement on the three pending issues on this score; namely, the bases for filling in the dam's reservoir, the bases of annual operation and outlining a mechanism for maintaining cooperation and coordination among the three signatory countries after ending the construction of the dam.
All these agreements should be complete within 15 months, he added, noting that a company will be chosen for starting technical studies on the dam.
Shoukry added the current visit of president Sisi to Addis Ababa and his keenness on addressing the Ethiopian people through their parliament is very significant. It means that Egypt is supporting Ethiopia in its efforts for achieving development, he added.
Source: MENA