CAIRO, Dec. 16 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have achieved positive results in the six-way meeting for the Renaissance dam which was held recently in the Sudanese capital, said the Sudan's Foreign Minister said Wednesday.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour added that “we preferred not to disclose it to the media” in statements made to state run MENA news agency.

Ghandour said that Renaissance Dam negotiations are not easy. He stressed that the water issue is a matter of “national security” for any country and “our task is to make sure that national security is maintained for all of us”  

The six-way ministerial meeting concluded last Saturday and were described by Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail as “difficult” .

Ghandour expects understandings to be reached in the upcoming meeting on Dec. 27- 28 in Khartoum where and the six ministers of water and foreign affairs of the three countries will be involved. He stressed that Sudan is neither a mediator, neutral nor biased.

The three states have held up to 10 rounds of talks over the past two years and this is not the first round that ends in impasse. Talks will resume on Dec. 27 - 28, and will also involve the six ministers of water and foreign affairs.

For decades, Egypt has been receiving 55 billion cubic meters of the Nile river's water annually, the largest share, as per agreements signed in the past century in the absence of Ethiopia, whose Blue Nile tributary supplies most the water. 

Once an agricultural state, Egypt relies on the Nile river as its main source of water but Ethiopia believes it is entitled to using the water for development, by creating electricity using the dam. The two countries have reiterated multiple times that they will not harm each other's interests, which seem to conflict.