Jordanian, Syria’s officials meet to talk about boosting energy collaboration

(MENAFN) Jordanian and Syrian officials met in Amman on Wednesday to discuss ways to boost collaboration in energy and water sectors.

Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Kharabsheh, and Minister of Water and Irrigation, Raed Abul Saud, held talks with Mohammad al-Bashir, head of Syria’s energy authorities. The discussions focused on joint infrastructure projects, regional integration, and sustainable development efforts.

One key topic was increasing natural gas exports to Syria through partnerships involving Qatar and Egypt to support electricity generation in the conflict-affected country. Since March, Jordan has been supplying Syria with Qatari natural gas via the Arab Gas Pipeline.

The officials also addressed plans to raise electricity interconnection capacity from 250 to 300 megawatts, as well as improve cooperation on petroleum logistics and electricity distribution.

On water issues, Abul Saud announced that a joint technical committee will meet on July 8 to review the 2005 Yarmouk River agreement and Jordan’s suggested amendments. He also praised Syrian efforts to prevent illegal well drilling in the Daraa region, which had previously affected Jordan’s water reserves.

Jordan and Syria’s water-sharing relationship dates back to a 1953 agreement, later updated in 1987 to include the Wahdah Dam project. Jordan financed the dam’s construction, but water flow has often been lower than expected—a situation Jordan partly attributes to new dams and wells built upstream in Syria.

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