Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed the latest developments in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue with Sudan’s chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel-Fattah El-Burhan in Cairo, the Egyptian presidency announced.
El-Sisi and Burhan discussed how to boost bilateral economic relations and trade exchange to make it on par with the level of the political and military relations between the two countries.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, the trade exchange between Egypt and Sudan increased by nearly 63.5 percent in 2021 ($1.2 billion) compared to 2020 ($711.4 million).
El-Sisi expressed Egypt’s keenness to
provide all types of support to achieve political, security and economic
stability in Sudan.
For his part, the head of Sudan’s sovereign council praised the "unlimited Egyptian support" to safeguard Sudan’s security and stability.
The Egyptian president received the Sudanese leader at Cairo International Airport earlier on Saturday. El-Burhan came from New York to Cairo after participating in the United Nations General Assembly.
The two leaders also discussed the controversial issue of the GERD, which is at the top of common interests between the two countries.
Egypt and Sudan’s tensions with Ethiopia have heightened after the latter proceeded with its plans to implement the third phase of filling the GERD’s reservoir without the consent of the downstream countries.
Egypt and Sudan have reiterated their rejection of the unilateral Ethiopian acts regarding the $4.2 billion GERD, including filling its 74-billion-cubic-metre reservoir and operating the dam turbines without their consent.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
