Rashid: Government plans at a high level to achieve real solutions to the issue of water

Baghdad-INA 

The President of the Republic, Abd al-Latif Jamal Rashid, announced today, Friday, high-level governmental plans to achieve real solutions on the issue of water.

The Office of the President of the Republic said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, received at his residence in New York, the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield and her accompanying delegation, in the presence of Foreign Minister Fouad. Hussein, on the sidelines of the Water Summit held in New York.

He added, "During the meeting, they discussed the water crisis and the threat it poses to food security and environmental diversity in Iraq, in addition to the negative effects resulting from climate change and the tangible decrease in water flow rates from the upstream countries.".

The President of the Republic indicated, according to the statement, that "Iraq suffered from climate change, high temperatures and water shortages due to lack of rain and population growth, as well as due to some water policies of neighboring countries." 

He stressed Iraq's need to know the water plans of the riparian countries in order to be able to develop the necessary plans and reach sufficient and fair shares with these countries," referring to "the necessity of improving water management methods and developing mechanisms to respond to the effects of climate change and high temperatures in Iraq.".

The President of the Republic spoke about "the importance of developing serious solutions in addressing environmental pollution resulting from the energy sector," referring to "the existence of projects In the future, it will concern the issue of gas and address its negative effects on the environment.

He touched on "the file of the displaced in Iraq," noting that "their situation requires serious and quick work to end this file, and this requires greater efforts by international organizations to help Iraq return the displaced to their areas after rehabilitating them and providing them with a decent life.".

The statement added, "The meeting witnessed discussing bilateral relations between Iraq and the United States and expanding the horizons of cooperation between the two friendly countries in a way that serves the common interests of the two friendly peoples.".

In turn, Ambassador Greenfield expressed her country's desire to strengthen joint relations with Iraq, stressing the United States' keenness to support Iraq in the field of addressing water scarcity and overcoming this crisis, especially by providing expertise to support and improve the issue of water management in Iraq and also through the UNAMI mission in Iraq".