ADDIS ABABA: Egypt's interim Prime Minister Essam Sharaf offered to increase trade with Ethiopia on Friday and said a new atmosphere now existed with regional neighbors over the vexed question of sharing Nile river waters. Cairo has been at odds with upriver nations over their efforts to overturn colonial era-treaties granting it a lion's share of the river's flow. Nile basin countries including Ethiopia and Uganda signed a deal last year effectively stripping Egypt of its veto over hydro-power projects. However, Addis Ababa said this month it was delaying ratification until a new government was installed in Egypt to replace authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. “We were in Uganda yesterday and today we had discussions in Ethiopia, and the environment is completely different from the previous period,” Sharaf told journalists following talks with members of Ethiopia's business community and a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. “With the concept that all should be winners – because we have huge resources, based on that there will be discussions and exchange of ideas,” he said. ‘Unfair' trade Sharaf also offered to increase trade between the two countries. “When you look at trade between Ethiopia and Egypt, it's a tiny fraction of total trade. We have to take care of that, to develop means and tools to increase trade,” he said. Egypt, threatened by rising temperatures and a growing population, is almost entirely dependent on the Nile for its water and has been nervously watching hydropower dam projects take shape in upriver nations. Ethiopia is building a multibillion-dollar mega dam on its share of the river, which accounts to eighty-five percent of the Nile's water.
