The Addis Ababa announcement comes just days after Egypt issued a new warning against Ethiopia over the multi-billion dollar dam project, which will be the largest in Africa upon completion.
Cairo said "all options are on the table" to deal with any threats to its water supply posed by the Ethiopian mega-dam, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
"We just declared all options open without defining specific procedures, and that serves Egypt's interest in retaining all available alternatives," Shoukry said, adding that Egypt adopted disciplined stances towards Ethiopia's "intransigence".
A day later, Addis Ababa responded angrily, dismissing the Egyptian foreign minister's comments as "irresponsible".
However, the Sudanese Minister of Finance, Gibril Ibrahim, said that the energy generated by GERD will not only be enough for neighboring countries, but will also contribute to the development of the entire region.
Gibril noted that you can't have economic development without energy and "we think the new dam will help us get enough cheap energy from Ethiopia."
