“The meeting ended with a decision that Sudan – as the chairing state in the trilateral negotiations – will send an invitation to hold meetings during the week with a view to ending the consolidation and finalizing the draft agreement on the dam, which the parties began to prepare during the last round of talks”, the ministry said in a statement.

The meeting, which was held under the auspices of South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor, was attended by the ministers of foreign affairs, irrigation and water resources of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, the statement read.

During the negotiations, Cairo affirmed the need to reach an agreement that would be mandatory for the talks’ participants and also set out the procedure for filling and launching the dam beneficially for all the parties involved in the issue.

Earlier in the week, the chairman of the African Union (AU) and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, confirmed that a new round of the trilateral talks on the GERD dispute will take place after a seven-week break. Ramaphosa expressed confidence that the parties would reach an agreement on outstanding dam issues, including technical and legal aspects.