Diplomacy + Foreign Trade on 11 August 2020: GERD negotiations pushed for one week

GERD negotiations postponed for one week: Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan have agreed to postpone the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations for one week, during which the ministers will agree on an agenda and the participants of the next meeting, Egypt’s cabinet said. The statement made no mention of whether Sudan attended yesterday’s meeting, after Khartoum said earlier this week it planned to boycott due to Ethiopia’s refusal to commit to a filling timetable for the dam’s reservoir. Ethiopia made a proposal to the two countries ahead of a round of talks that took place on 3 August. The proposal was said to have dodged mention of a binding dispute resolution mechanism and left and left out key operating guidelines for the dam, prompting Egypt and Sudan to walk away from the negotiations table for “internal consultations.”