This came during in a joint press conference with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is on his first official visit to Egypt.

During a meeting before the press conference, Presidents El-Sisi and Steinmeier discussed Cairo's attempts to reach a binding legal agreement with Addis Ababa regarding the filling and operating the controversial dam.

Egypt and Ethiopia have been locked in a dispute over the filling and operations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) for years with Addis Ababa refusing to sign any legally binding agreement that would safeguard Egypt's water rights and needs.

The river “has flowed for thousands of years without obstacles,” President El-Sisi said at the press conference.

“For more than 10 years, we have been striving to reach an agreement per international standards and laws governing transboundary rivers,” he added.

Addis Ababa has unilaterally completed four, out of five, phases of filling the disputed dam and put two turbines into operation despite the absence of agreement with downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.

Cairo has registered its objections with the United Nations Security Council over Ethiopia's intrasigence in unilaterally filling the GERD in the absence of any legally binding agreement.