Egypt, Sudan hope for binding deal before Nile dam filling

Cairo, March 12 : Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held talks with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok here, where they agreed to intensify coordination over the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile river.
The two leader during the meeting on Thursday also addressed regional issues of mutual concern and joint economic projects between the two countries, Xinhua news agency quoted Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady as saying in a statement.
Sisi and Hamdok also agreed to intensify contacts with regional and international parties to activate the Sudanese proposal of forming an international quartet to be led by the African Union (AU) to mediate in resolving the Nile dam issue.
They reiterated the hopes of Egypt and Sudan “to reach a comprehensive and legally binding agreement on the rules of filling and operating the GERD” before the next rainy season.
The talks came a few days after Sisi paid a visit to Khartoum where he expressed Egypt’s full support to the security and stability of the neighboring country.
Ethiopia, an upstream Nile basin country, started building the GERD in 2011, while Egypt is concerned that the dam might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of the Nile water.