It is to be recalled that PM Minister Meles Zenawi promised the Egyptian public diplomacy delegation in April that a joint experts committee consisting Ethiopian, Egyptian and Sudanese experts could see the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam and ascertain its positive impacts to the two lower riparian countries.

The Egyptian State Information Service reported yesterday that the committee will hold its first meeting this month. Read the news below:

Higher Nile Committee reviews preparations for Egyptian-Ethiopian meetings

The Higher Committee for the Nile River convened Thursday 07/07/2011 under Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to review preparations for an Egyptian-Ethiopian committee meeting.

The joint committee meeting later this month will be co-chaired by the premiers of both countries.

The conferees also tackled preparations for a meeting of the Egyptian-Ethiopian-Sudanese committee assessing the impact of establishing the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam aka Millennium Dam – within this month.

The meeting further discussed ways to boost cooperation among the Nile Basin countries in various fields.

The meeting also discussed joint projects with other Nile Basin countries in the fields of agriculture, water resources, irrigation and health. Meanwhile, participants hailed the Egyptian-Sudanese coordination vis-a-vis the Nile River file as well as the remarkable improvement in the Egyptian-Ethiopian ties.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf underlined Egypt’s keenness to boosting cooperation with Nile Basin countries pointing to an all-inclusive development plan being prepared currently to crown Egyptian efforts in the light of new policies that give priority to the black continent and Nile Basin countries in various domains.

Well-informed sources unveiled that Egypt and Sudan have confirmed to Addis Ababa their readiness to respond to its proposal for starting dialogue as soon as possible.

The dialogue aims at assessing the impact of the would-be Millennium Dam after Ethiopian officials said Egypt will benefit from it.

Sources affirmed there are several new African initiatives to settle differences over the Nile Basin framework agreement on the equitable use of water.

The initiatives will be reviewed during the irregular meeting of Nile Basin irrigation ministers late in July in Nairobi.