Albawaba.com
Damascus
Syria and Iraq are negotiating a plan to share the water of the Euphrates, according to officials at the Syrian ministry of irrigation.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Minister of Irrigation, Taha Atrash, will discuss during his current visit to Baghdad the details of a project for permanent split of the river’s water to replace the present agreement.
According to the agreement, signed in April 1990, Iraq is entitled to 58 percent of the water while Syria is free to utilize the remaining 42 percent.
The sources told Albawaba.com that Turkey will be invited later to join the coordination efforts regarding the trilateral water issue. They added that Syrian-Iraqi meeting will also seek to sign an agreement concerning the Tigris River’s waters in a bid to coordinate the two countries’ stand regarding the issue.
Iraq announced last week that it would invite Turkey to take part in the negotiations.
The issue has been a major dispute in the region for years. Iraq and Syria, which depend on the Euphrates for their water needs, complained about Turkey’s several dams on the river which have, since the 1970s, reduced the flow of water to its neighbors.
Ankara has recently increased the quantity of water reaching Syria to 550 cubic meters per second, compared to the 45-75 mps last September, according to a water expert at the Syrian irrigation ministry.
Asbdul Aziz al Masri told Albawaba.com that the quantity of portable water pumped from the northern neighbor to Syria last month was 700 mps, while it averaged 550 mps during January.
The visit of Al Atrash and his colleague Mohammad Nihad Mushahtat, minister of housing, comes on the eve of a visit to Damascus by Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. Ramadan is due to sign an economic agreement, similar to the one signed with Egypt earlier in the month, in accordance with the declaration made last week by Tareq Aziz, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister.
The Iraqi Syrian trade volume is $500 million, and is on the increase after bilateral ties witnessed considerable improvement.
The two countries severed their relations after the outbreak of the Iraqi-Iranian war in 1980.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Al Ittihad Arabic weekly has reported that the Syrian authorities have agreed to start regular air flights between Damascus and Baghdad.
In a related development, Iraqi oil minister, Amer Rasheed, has announced that Iraq and Syria have agreed to build a new pipeline to replace the existing worn out one.
The minister was quoted in the press as saying the new line will have a capacity of 4.1 million barrels a day. The old pipeline, which extends from Karkok in the north of Iraq and the Syrian port of Banias, went out of service in 1982 after Damascus stood behind Iran in its war against Iraq.
According to Al Jomhoriyya daily on Saturday, Rasheed said the new pipeline will be laid in two stages: the first in Syria, while making do with the old part in the Iraqi territories, and then the Iraqi part will be built “when the financial status of Iraq improves.” – Albawaba.com
