Ethiopia's Minister of Water and Energy, Ato Alemayehu Tegnu, said this week that Ethiopia was pursuing a policy of cooperation with Sudan and Egypt.

He was addressing in a symposium organized by the Ethiopian Embassy in Khartoum and the International University of Africa in Khartoum on the Impact of the Grand Renaissance Dam on Sudan and Egypt. The symposium was attended by Sudan's State Minister of Dams, Irrigation and Electricity, Mrs. Tabita Peters, the Minister of Irrigation at Sudan's Ministry of Water Resources, Professor Saif Addin Hamad Abdallah, the Ethiopian Ambassador to Sudan, Ambassador Abadi Zemo, the President of the International University of Africa, Professor Hassan Mekki, and various politicians, experts, academicians and foreign diplomats. Minister Alemayehu stressed that Ethiopia has no intention of monopolizing the water of the River through building the Grand Millennium Development Dam. He emphasized that the dam would increase development opportunities, and provide for economic improvements and greater trade exchanges between the three countries. He added that the water stored in the dam could augment farmland usage in Egypt and Sudan, given the fact that the amount of arable land in use in Ethiopia remained very small. Professor Hassan Mekki, President of the International University of Africa, indicated that the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would provide the largest artificial lake in Africa and pointed out that Sudan would be the biggest beneficiary of the dam. The symposium was successful and to achieve positive results for the benefit of the peoples of the Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.