Cairo, Jun 23 (IANS): Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the North African country "is always ready to negotiate for reaching a deal on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)."

Shoukry's comments on Monday came in response to earlier remarks by his Ethiopian counterpart who accused Egypt of requesting the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to intervene, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Egypt has been in talks with the Ethiopian and Sudanese sides over a decade with good intentions," Shoukry said in a statement.

He reiterated that "Egypt is ready to resume negotiations that achieve the interests for all sides if Ethiopia abided by the international obligations of not filling the dam after taking a unilateral measure."

Egypt has requested on Friday the UNSC to intervene to resolve the dispute over the controversial GERD on the Nile River.

Ethiopia has recently said that it would soon start filling the reservoir, while Egypt has repeatedly warned against any unilateral action without a prior tripartite agreement.

Ethiopia started building the GERD in 2011, while Egypt, a downstream Nile Basin country that relies on the river for its freshwater, is concerned that the dam might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of the water resources of the river.