The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy dismissed media reports that Egypt withdrew from meetings of a gathering of East African countries, describing such reports as baseless and groundless.

In a statement Thursday, the ministry said the Egyptian delegation that took part in the meetings insisted on Egypt's stance towards the main plan and that its objections were listed on the meetings' minutes.

The statement said meetings of the steering committee of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) were held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on January 20-22, 2016 in the presence of a high-level Egyptian delegation and representatives of four countries out of the 10 which are members of the group.

They agreed to refer the recommendations to the ministerial council to adopt the updated regional plan but Egypt expressed reservations at some points as the meetings were attended by the half of the group members.

During the meeting, four countries namely Ethiopia, Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda voted for the plan against one vote which was for the Arab Republic of Egypt, that described the vote as violation of the agreement signed in 2015, which founded the group.

Source: MENA