Addis Ababa 20/2020 (ENA) Russia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia has urged Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia to reach mutually acceptable solution on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) through dialogue and in compliance with international law.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, Ambassador Evgeny Terekhin said his country has friendly relations with all the tripartite countries and is closely following the negotiation process.
He reaffirmed that Russia’s position with regard to the dam remains unchanged.
“It is necessary to reach mutually acceptable solution through dialogue between the countries, considering the parties interests, and in strict compliance with international law.”
Ambassador Terekhin stated that Russia supports the calls of UN Secretary General António Guterres and AUC Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat to continue efforts towards political settlement on the remaining differences.
AU’s effort to resolve the outstanding issues among the three countries through negotiations and discussions is appreciable, he noted, adding that “we believe this might be the best platform to find solution.”
“We reaffirm our continued position on the importance of resolving this problem through negotiations within the existing frameworks and in accordance with the spirit of the Khartoum Declarations of Principles of 2015,” the ambassador said.
According to him, the entire range of issues and the water use regime should be coordinated to respect the Nile Basin states national security interests and socio-economic goals.
“We hope that the parties declared interest in continuing the search for solution will allow them to achieve concrete results in a trilateral format,” Ambassador Terekhin pointed out.
Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has now reached 74.5 percent and water filling is expected to begin soon.
ENA.
