Trump to discuss disputed Ethiopian dam with Egypt

US President Donald Trump is meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Trump said the two would discuss trade issues as well as Egypt's ongoing dispute with Ethiopia about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD.

Located on a tributary of the River Nile upstream from Egypt, the GERD is Africa's largest hydroelectric dam.

It was inaugurated by the Ethiopian government with great fanfare in September last year. Construction had begun in 2011.

Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation with over 120 million people, says the $5 billion dam will provide energy to millions and is central to its economic ambitions.

Egypt, which built its own Aswan High Dam on the Nile in the 1960s, fears the GERD could restrict its water supply during droughts, and could encourage the construction of other upstream dams.

Trump has previously offered to mediate between Cairo and Addis Ababa on the issue.

-Reuters