Cairo – Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, on Sunday said he would meet Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed-Ali, in Russia in a bid to restart stalled talks over a disputed dam being built by Ethiopia on the Nile.
Al-sisi, however, did not mention the date of the planned meeting.
Meanwhile, talks about Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam had been deadlocked as it had so far rejected Cairo’s proposals for how to fill and operate the dam.
Egypt, which relied almost exclusively on the Nile for farming, industry and domestic water use, feared that the dam would reduce its share of the river.
Al-Sissi noted that the Egyptians were exaggerating in their reactions on social media over the past days.
“Issues are not solved in this way, they are solved with dialogue and calm.
“We have been carrying out a comprehensive plan since 2014 to solve any possible shortage in water, including setting up plants for water desalination and waste water treatment,” he said.
He said that government has invested 200 billion Egyptian pounds (or 12.3 billion dollars) as part of the plan so far and by 2037, the figure would reach 900 billion pounds to face population growth and water needs.