The results of ongoing talks hosted in Cairo between Ethiopian, Sudanese and Egyptian irrigation and water resources ministers about Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam are to be announced at a press conference on Friday at 4pm, Khaled Wassef, a spokesman for Egypt’s irrigation ministry told Ahram Online.

Friday marks the second day of ongoing negotiations hosted in Cairo for the first time since tensions flared last year about the effect of the dam on the water supply of downstream countries Egypt and Sudan. 

The three countries are scheduled to pick a consultancy firm of experts to produce new studies on the dam's impact.

During the opening session of the talks, the Ethiopian irrigation minister said that his country is committed to cooperation with Nile Basin countries and equitable access to Nile water.

He called on the chosen consultants to depend on confirmed, accurate and unbiased information.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Thursday met with the irrigation ministers of Sudan and Ethiopia.

During the meeting, El-Sisi stressed that strong relations between the three countries cannot be limited to water resource issues, saying economic development can only be reached through cooperation, according to the Egyptian irrigation ministry.

The talks come a month after a previous round in Addis Ababa, where Egyptian officials said a breakthrough had been reached in discussions despite the fact that many issues concerning the construction of the Ethiopian dam remained unresolved.

Egypt is worried the dam will affect its annual share of Nile water supply, a worry that Ethiopia insists is not the case.

Some 40 percent of the dam has already been built, Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome said earlier this month.

The Sudanese irrigation minister said the Nile Basin countries should “build trust.” He added that the opening session has had a “positive outcome” thus far while the Egyptian Minister stressed “similar goals” and “mutual benefits.”

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