MOWR: Baghdad and Ankara want to end the water file

Baghdad - INA

The Minister of Water Resources, Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, confirmed today, Thursday, that Baghdad and Ankara want to end the water file.

The ministry stated in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "the Minister of Water Resources, Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, met in his office the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad, Ali Riza Konai. The interest of the two neighboring countries at this time when the region is suffering from extreme climatic changes, water scarcity, high temperatures, lack of rain and snow cover.”.

Al-Hamdani stressed, according to the statement, "the need to find solutions to the outstanding issues between the two sides in light of the interest of the two governments and at the level of the two countries' presidents, who expressed a real desire to end this file by reaching understandings on the outstanding issues."

He stressed "the necessity of activating the cooperation protocol in managing the waters of the main Tigris River after the operation of the Ilisu Dam and the proposal to establish a joint research center with the Turkish side based in Baghdad, in addition to the necessity of activating the memorandum of understanding signed in 2014 and approved by the Turkish Parliament, as well as activating the work of technical water teams." international cooperation with neighboring countries. 

For his part, the Turkish ambassador affirmed, "his government's readiness to solve water problems, take into account Iraq's needs, and develop water relations, as it is the main means for developing relations between the two countries in all other fields."