US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said that Egypt had signed the initials agreement on the Renaissance Dam, calling on Ethiopia to sign it as soon as possible.
It was expected that the three countries concerned (Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan) would conclude an agreement on filling and operating the dam in Washington this week, but it is only Cairo that first signed it.
The Mnuchin price - in a statement - Egypt's readiness to sign the final agreement, considering that marking it first is a sign of commitment to its approval.
The statement called on Ethiopia to sign the agreement as soon as possible, taking into account its need to consult at the national level.
The American official renewed his country's commitment with the three countries until an agreement ended years of differences over the Renaissance Dam.
It is noteworthy that Ethiopia had announced a few days ago that it would not participate in the ministerial meetings sponsored by the US administration between the three countries on the Renaissance Dam, and requested to postpone the last round of talks that would be followed by the announcement of the final agreement.
The Ethiopian authorities attributed the sudden decision to "not complete the consultations with the concerned authorities inside" the Ethiopian.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in the Ethiopian capital, Hassan Razzaq, said that Ethiopian press reports talked about the presence of both Ethiopian and Egyptian reservations about Washington's role in the negotiations, which could mean returning to the previous square of the American intervention in the issue that started in November 2019.
The official Egyptian Middle East Agency indicated that the parties concerned agreed - during the last round of negotiations in Washington on February 12 and 13 this February - that the United States, in conjunction with the World Bank, develop the final picture of a comprehensive agreement on the rules for filling and operating the Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia is building on The Blue Nile that supplies the Nile.
The dam project has caused nine years of disputes, especially between Ethiopia and Egypt. However, the negotiations accelerated in recent months after a repeated Egyptian declaration of stumbling, and accusing Ethiopia of intransigence, which the latter denies.
Cairo fears the potential negative impact of the dam on the flow of its annual share of the Nile River's water amounting to 55.5 billion cubic meters, while Sudan gets 18.5 billion.
Addis Ababa says it does not aim to harm Egypt's interests, and that the aim of building the dam is primarily to generate electricity.