Will Egypt agree to sell Nile waters?
Wall Street has started trading in water futures contracts, just like gold, oil and basic commodities, coinciding with the stalled negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which raises the question of whether Egypt will agree to sell the Nile waters.
CAIRO — As of Dec. 8, Wall Street started trading futures contracts in water, just as it does in gold, oil and basic commodities. This is the first time trading in water as a commodity has taken place in any stock market.
This comes at a time when negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) are at a standstill, which raises the question of whether Egypt will agree to sell Nile waters.
The three Nile Basin countries have been engaged in laborious negotiations to agree on mechanisms of filling and operating the GERD, which Addis Ababa began building on the Blue Nile in 2011. No binding legal agreement has been reached yet due to Ethiopia’s insistence on filling the dam without reaching an agreement with the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
On Dec. 15, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed to resume the faltering negotiations after Sudan had boycotted a round of talks in mid-November in objection to the negotiation approach between Egypt and Ethiopia.
