CAIRO, June 18 (UPI) -- A controversial dam on the Nile River will be the subject of negotiations by Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, foreign ministers of the countries announced Tuesday.
The negotiations will deal with the political and technical aspects of dividing the river's waters between the countries, Egypt's Ahram Online reported.
The $4.2 billion dam is planned by Ethiopia to power a hydroelectric plant. Egypt and Sudan are concerned the dam could reduce the amount of water available to them.
Egypt has claimed for decades that a 1929 treaty, written when the nation was still a British colony, gave it control of the river.
A 1959 treaty divided rights to the river with Sudan, with Egypt getting 55.5 billion cubic meters of water out of 74 billion.
In the joint statement, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said the dam would be used primarily for electricity generation and shouldn't affect the amount of water available downstream for irrigation.
Egypt's National Planning Institute projects that by the year 2050, the country will need an additional 21 billion cubic meters of water to meet the needs of its growing population.
