The Sudanese water minister met with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Wednesday, ahead of next week's tripartite negotiations in Khartoum regarding the construction of a giant dam in Ethiopia.

The negotiations – involving Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia – are expected to resume in Khartoum starting Sunday.

A similar meeting had been held on 4 November involving technical representatives from the three countries, but no tangible results were reached.

Egypt has persistently demanded that Ethiopia modify its construction plans and grant access to an international technical committee to assess the dam's potential impact upon the Nile.

Ethiopia has not submitted to the requests, but has rather insisted upon the formation of the tripartite institution to monitor the dam's construction. The proposition has been rejected by Cairo until Ethiopia responds to its initial demands.

Announcement of the project two years ago caused a national outcry in Egypt, with politicians, media and farmers warning that the dam could pose a national security threat.

Tensions have escalated between the two countries since May, when Ethiopia began diverting the Blue Nile.

Construction of the $4.2 billion (3.2 billion euro) Grand Renaissance Dam has nevertheless gone ahead. When completed, it is set to be Africa's largest hydroelectric dam.