Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in a phone call on Wednesday with his Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan, agreed on the need to support the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia.

The two presidents agreed on the need to back the negotiations path in this regard to achieve the interests of the three concerned countries and protect the water security of Egypt and Sudan as downstream countries, Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said in a statement.

El-Sisi affirmed to Hassan the need to reach a fair and legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.

El-Sisi congratulated Hassan on becoming president, wishing her success in performing her duties.

The Egyptian president underscored the special and historic nature of Egyptian-Tanzanian relations and the progress these relations have witnessed in the wake of his visit to Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam city in 2017.

El-Sisi expressed his willingness to discuss cooperation with the new Tanzanian president to enhance bilateral relations in various fields in a way that achieves the interests of the two countries’ peoples.

These fields include raising trade exchange with Tanzania, developing infrastructure, providing technical support and building capacities, the president said.

Hassan voiced her appreciation to the Egyptian people and leadership and affirmed the presence of broad horizons to develop relations and advance cooperation between Egypt and Tanzania.

Hassan also hailed Egypt’s support to Tanzania’s developmental efforts, especially through the Julius Nyerere Dam Egypt is establishing in Tanzania.

Hassan said the dam reflects the deep and special relations between the two countries, noting that it is one of the largest national projects in Tanzania.

The dam is planned to have a reservoir capacity of 34 billion cubic metres and is part of Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station being constructed since 2019.

The project is being built by a consortium of Egyptian companies, the Arab Contractors and Elsewedy Electric.

Expected to be completed by 2022, the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station is planned to have a capacity of 2,115 megawatts.