US AND EGYPT DISCUSSED REGIONAL STABILITY ON GERD DAM

Following a meeting over the weekend between President Joe Biden and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in Jeddah in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the two leaders issued a joint statement in which the U.S. and Egypt discussed, among others, promoting “regional stability.”

One of the issues the two leaders discussed is the issue of Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

“President Biden reiterated U.S. support for Egypt’s water security and forging a diplomatic resolution that would achieve the interests of all parties and contribute to a more peaceful and prosperous region,” the statement said.

In June this year, Ethiopia objected to a similar stance taken by the European Union expressing the block’s support for “Egypt’s water security”.

“The European Union should reconsider its biased stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,” Ambassador Dina Mufti, the spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), told local media on 23 June.

It is recalled that following the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting held on 20 June, the EU and Egypt released a joint statement highlighting the importance of “reaching a mutually acceptable and binding agreement on the filling and operations of the GERD.”

But Ethiopia denounced the statement as “senseless and biased”, and called upon the EU to reconsider its stance.

Similarly, the U.S.-Egypt joint statement said that “the two leaders reiterated the imperative of agreeing on the filling and operation of the GERD without further delay as stipulated in the Statement of the President of the United Nations Security Council dated September 15, 2021, and by international law.”