KHARTOUM, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese officials and African Union (AU) experts team on Saturday held a meeting over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), said Sudan's Irrigation and Water Resources Ministry.

"Sudan's negotiating team over the GERD, headed by Sudan's Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Yasir Abbas, held a bilateral meeting on Saturday afternoon with the AU team of experts," said the ministry in a statement.

"The meeting came in response to Sudan's call for giving the AU experts a greater role to facilitate the talks among Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia to contribute to preparation of a second document for the proposed memorandum of agreement that was received by the three countries in the previous six-party meeting," it noted.

It said the meeting thoroughly discussed the importance of setting up a clear reference framework for the role of the AU experts, adding that Sudan has stressed the necessity that the AU plays a more effective leadership role than its role in the previous rounds of talks.