Water file: Iraq agrees with Turkey and Iran to hold a specialized technical meeting

Baghdad-INA  
The Ministry of Water Resources announced today, Sunday, an agreement with the Turkish and Iranian sides to hold a specialized technical meeting in the near future to discuss the water file, pointing out that the two parties interacted with Iraq's demands, in which it called for going towards permanent agreements and turning the page on interim agreements.
 
 
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Resources, Raed Al-Jashami, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "we held constructive discussions with the Iranian delegation headed by the Minister of Energy and the advanced staff in the ministry on the sidelines of the third Baghdad Water Conference, which dealt with all outstanding issues, and we felt an interaction with Iraq's demands."
He added that "a high-level Turkish technical delegation also participated in the conference and visited the ministry's sites in the Euphrates, and was briefed on the effects of water scarcity and understanding of Iraq's need in light of the continued scarcity," pointing to "the interaction of the two sides with the size of the challenge that Iraq is going through."
Al-Jashami, pointed out that "the technical meetings that took place with the delegations of the two countries paved the way for an agreement to hold a specialized technical meeting in the near future to discuss the water file in all its details, and Iraq informed the downstream countries of the need to go towards permanent agreements and turn the page on the interim agreements that took place in the past because the water situation has changed."
 Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani, confirmed yesterday, the government's intention to desalinate sea water, while stressing that the low water levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers require urgent international intervention.
Prime Minister said, in his speech during the third Baghdad International Water Conference, which was attended by the correspondent of the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "Iraq is one of the countries that suffer from social and economic effects due to water scarcity," pointing out that "the danger of the water crisis began since the eighties of the past century, and among its reasons was the hostile behavior of the dictatorial regime and the lack of regulation of the water situation with neighboring countries.