Cairo — Egypt has firmly denied reports suggesting it was willing to grant Ethiopia maritime access to the Red Sea in exchange for concessions related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a project that has remained a major source of tension between the two nations.
In a statement released Tuesday evening through Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency, an official source rejected claims circulating in media reports that Cairo was prepared to offer Ethiopia access to the Red Sea in return for flexibility from Addis Ababa on the Nile dam issue.
The source described the reports as “baseless and unfounded,” stressing that Egypt’s position on water security and the GERD dispute remains unchanged.
According to the statement, Egypt continues to uphold international law, oppose unilateral actions, and protect its historical share of Nile waters while safeguarding the rights of downstream countries.
Egyptian officials also emphasized that governance and security arrangements in the Red Sea are limited exclusively to countries bordering the waterway, describing the sea as strategically tied to the national security of littoral states.
“No non-coastal country has the right to take part in any arrangements related to the Red Sea,” the source added, in remarks widely seen as referring to landlocked Ethiopia.
Ethiopian leaders have repeatedly highlighted the country’s need for access to the Red Sea, while Egypt has consistently opposed the involvement of non-coastal states in Red Sea security or political frameworks.
