NAIROBI, Kenya
Kenya and Ethiopia have started talks on Nairobi’s plans to buy electricity from the $ 4.5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that began generating power on Sunday. This is according to Ethiopia’s ambassador to Kenya, Meles Alem.
Meles wrote on his Facebook
page that power exports to Kenya are part of Ethiopia's “Economic diplomacy
which is at the centre of the country's foreign policy”.
The Nairobi meeting came a day
after the Horn of Africa nation announced that its controversial dam on the Blue
Nile River had begun generating electricity.
Earlier this month, Kenya
reached a new agreement with Ethiopia to import hydro-processed cheap power.
The arrangement was reached
after an Ethiopian delegation, led by Ethiopia’s state minister for finance,
Eyob Tekalign, visited Nairobi on February 2-4.
The neighbours had deliberated
on previously signed power trade agreements and deals on the interconnection of
power systems in light of progress made on each side.
A statement from Ethiopia’s
ministry of foreign affairs said the new deal made in Nairobi intends to
"realise the aspirations of both countries' respective people for regional
economic integration and sustainable development".
During a February 4 meeting
with Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Dr Monica Juma, Eyob said the close
relationship between Kenya and Ethiopia would help spur economic growth.
He said the two countries were
nearing the conclusion of the interconnector, and they needed to review the
status of the project.
"It was necessary to
ensure that Ethiopia and Kenya do everything humanly possible to fulfill the
dreams and aspirations of both countries to see the entire region
connected," he said.
In her remarks during the
meeting, Dr Juma said "the value of the interconnection of our power
systems is key to powering our aspiration for fast growth".
Both ministers reiterated that
the benefits of the interconnection project would go beyond Ethiopia and Kenya
by creating a pathway and model for sister nations across the continent. Both
parties said they were committed to the project.
The GERD project, in the
western Benishangul-Gumuz region, began in 2011. It is 30km from the Sudanese
border and has long been a source of contention between Ethiopia, Egypt and
Sudan.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy
Ahmed on Sunday officially inaugurated electricity production from the massive
power plant.
Sudan and Egypt see the dam as
a threat to their water security due to their high dependence on the resources
of the Nile River.
The two downstream countries
fear that GERD, what would be Africa's largest dam, could eventually reduce
their water share from the river.
But Ethiopia insists that the
dam is key to its development and electrification, to light up the homes of 60
per cent of its people who lack access to electricity.
At the inauguration ceremony,
PM Abiy assured downstream countries that Ethiopia never intended to harm their
interests.
"Ethiopia's main interest
is to bring light to 60 percent of the population who (are) suffering in
darkness, to save the labour of our mothers who (carry) wood on their backs in
order to get energy," he said.
"As you can see, this
water will generate energy while flowing as it previously flowed to Sudan and
Egypt, unlike the rumours that say the Ethiopian people and government are
damming the water to starve Egypt and Sudan."
The 145-metre-high dam started
generating 375 megawatts of electricity from one of its turbines on Sunday.
Upon completion, GERD is
expected to produce more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity, more than
doubling the country's power output.
Ethiopia, Africa's second most
populous nation, intends to generate about $1 billion in annual revenue from
electricity exports to neighbouring countries and beyond.
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