Ethiopia’s Water, Irrigation and Energy Ministry has withdrawn from US trilateral talk on Nile Dam.
The country has declined to be part of the talks on the $5billion hydropower project holding in Washington.
The United States has sponsored the trilateral talk between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. The talk aimed at resolving a dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, a tributary of the Nile River.
“Ethiopia would not take part in the meeting. This reason is that consultations with stakeholders at home are still incomplete,” the ministry said in a statement.
Egypt also opposes the project. It notes that the dam will cut its traditional share of 55 billion cubic meters of annual flow from the Blue Nile.
Nevertheless, Ethiopia maintains that the project is necessary to national development. In addition, it will lift millions out of poverty.
The trilateral meeting in Washington has started since November last year. This was after several months of failed negotiation between Egypt and Ethiopia.
