Ethiopia, Sudan reaffirm commitment to boost cooperation

By Tesfa Alem Tekle

April 9, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — The governments of Sudan and Ethiopia have restated commitment to further expand their existing bilateral relations.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Thursday received a message from President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir delivered by Irrigation and Water Resources Minister, Engineer Kemal Ali Mohamed.

Both sides have further exchanged views on equitable use of the Nile as well as on ways of transforming cooperation among the riparian countries in line with the Nile Cooperation Framework Agreement.

The Sudanese minister was in Nairobi last month to carry a similar message on Nile water to the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

Sudan is supporting Egypt position refusing to alter its privileges in accordance with 1929 treaty between Egypt and the colonial power Britain.

Ethiopia which is the source of 85 percent of the total Nile waters flow, suffers from regular drought and famine as the 1929 awarded most of the Nile’s water to Egypt.

The two sides expressed cooperation between states sharing the international river as an essential basis for the attainment and maintenance of an equitable allocation of the uses and benefits of international watercourses.

PM Meles and Engineer Kemal Ali Mohammed conferred on ways the two sisterly countries could jointly stage up all-round cooperation towards development based on mutual interest.

The Sudanese Minister on the occasion conveyed Sudan’s dedication to bump up cooperation with Ethiopia in various sectors including trade and investment.

(ST)