Iran Voices Readiness to Implement Joint Water Projects with Iraq
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran has expressed its readiness to implement joint water projects with neighboring Iraq.
Iranian Minister of Energy Ali Akbar Mehrabian in his meeting with Iraqi Minister of Water Resources Aoun Dhiab Abdullah late on Friday emphasized the need for the development of bilateral relations and noted that Iran is ready to implement joint water projects with Iraq.
Mehrabian, who is the head of the Regional Center on Urban Water Management (RCUWM), affiliated to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), stressed that promoting the level of cooperation with neighboring countries, especially Iraq, is one of the priorities of the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi.
The relations between Iran and Iraq are presently ‘amicable and friendly’ but efforts should be made to improve and expand the level of the ties in the future at the highest level, Mehrabian emphasized.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian energy minister pointed to the Baghdad International Water Conference and stated that all people in the region and the world comprehend the low-water condition well. “If the current water condition is compared with the previous years, we understand that there are shortfalls in the field of water resources, part of which is related to the climatic condition while the rest is due to the inappropriate management of water resources.”
The Iraqi minister of water resources, for his part, emphasized the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Iran in the field of water and added that constructive talks have been held in this regard with the energy minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran in previous years.
It is hoped that these constructive talks would continue with the aim of fulfilling the interests of the two countries and developing mutual ties in the very near future, Dhiab Abdullah underlined.
