United Nations, July 9 (TIWN) Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said that an agreement between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the disputed Nile dam in can and must be reached.

While shared watercourses have been the cause of dispute, they can also be the foundation for cooperation and well-planned hydraulic infrastructure on a shared river course can be a source of enhanced collaboration and need not be a zero-sum game, she told the Security Council on Thursday during a briefing on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), whose construction is nearing completion. 

With integrated planning, damaging seasonal inundations can be prevented, energy can be traded, water storage can be optimised, and benefits can materialize both in terms of development and in terms of water optimisation, Xinhua news agency reported citing the UNEP chief as saying.