ADDIS ABABA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Ministers of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt have agreed on realizing a tripartite infrastructure fund based on the decision made by leaders of the three countries, according to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ministers of the three countries, during their meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), agreed to establish the tripartite infrastructure fund, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday.
Leaders of the three countries, during their meeting in Ethiopia on the sidelines of the African Union (AU) summit in January, had agreed to establish a tripartite infrastructure fund, which was said to serve to strengthen economic integration and the people-to-people relations among the three countries.
Water resources ministers, foreign ministers, and intelligence chiefs of the three countries met in Khartoum upon the agreement made by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopia's former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
According to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials of the three countries have arrived into mutual consensus on some issues regarding the disputed mega dam.
The meeting mainly aimed to foster collaboration and resolve differences among the three countries regarding the construction of Ethiopia's dam.
The diplomatic relations among the three countries is largely intertwined with the Blue Nile River that originates from Ethiopia and shared with Sudan and Egypt.
The GERD, under construction at a cost of 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, is now 64 percent complete, which Ethiopia hopes will provide a constant supply of affordable electricity to aid the country's modernization drive.
But Egypt, as a Nile downstream country, fears that the construction of the GERD would affect its share of the Nile water and lead to a water shortage.
