Egypt’s FM holds meetings in New York to highlight position on Ethiopia’s dam issue

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri held a series of meetings during his current visit to New York to explain Egypt’s position on the Ethiopian dam file.

The foreign minister held meetings with each of the ambassadors of the Arab Committee concerned with following up on the developments of Ethiopia’s dam file and coordinating with the Security Council as well as the permanent delegates of the African Group of States to the Security Council, permanent delegates and representatives of Estonia, Ireland, Mexico and Norway, which are current non-permanent members of the Security Council.

Minister Shoukri reviewed during these meetings the firm Egyptian position on the dam issue which is based on the need to reach a binding legal agreement on filling and operating the dam that takes into account the interests of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia and preserves Egypt’s water rights.

These intensive meetings come as part of preparation for the upcoming session of the Security Council on the issue of the dam, which will be held at the request of Egypt and Sudan, with the aim of the Council discussing this issue and pushing forward to resolve the currently stumbling situation by supporting a fair and balanced agreement that achieves the interests of the three countries.

Shoukri held a meeting m with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi, Minister in continuation of the coordination and consultation between the two countries on the developments of the Ethiopian dam file and in preparation for the United Nations Security Council session scheduled to be held on Thursday at the request of Egypt and Sudan.

The two ministers agreed on the need to continue conducting extensive contacts and consultations with the member states of the Security Council to urge them to support the position of Egypt and Sudan and to support their call for the need to reach a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam that takes into account the interests of the three countries and preserves the rights of the two downstream countries from the damages of this project to Egypt and Sudan.

The two ministers also expressed their rejection of Ethiopia’s announcement of starting the second stage of filling the dam as this represented an explicit violation of the provisions of the Declaration of Principles Agreement concluded between the three countries in 2015 and a violation of international laws and norms governing the exploitation of transboundary river resources.