The President of the Republic, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, received today, Thursday, at the Baghdad Palace, the permanent special envoy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iraq for water affairs, Faisal Eroglu, accompanied by a high-level delegation of experts and consultants specialized in the field of water, dams, irrigation, agriculture and environmental energy.
At the outset of the meeting, which was attended by Minister of Water Resources Aoun Diab Abdullah and Environment Nizar Amidi, the president Abdul Latif received, through Faisal Eroglu, the greetings of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while Abdul Latif entrusted the envoy of Turkish President his greetings to Erdogan, as he emphasized that the relations between the two countries are deep and historical and that the problems related to the water resources situation are not intractable or impossible to solve and require serious decisions that are in the interest of both countries and work to implement them.
It was also stressed, according to a statement by the Media Office of the President of the Republic, the importance of developing and strengthening bilateral relations, especially in the field of joint cooperation in the water file, and work to update joint understandings and agreements in this regard, in a way that achieves the interests of the two friendly countries and peoples.
In this regard, the President stressed the importance of providing Iraq with the operational plan and indicating the minimum level of water releases that reach the Tigris and Euphrates basins. He also stressed the need to exchange technical notes between the two sides for the purpose of agreeing on a final joint understanding, noting that the Iraqi government is working intensively to strengthen, develop and improve the water management across the country.
The President of the Republic stressed that the whole world, especially the Middle East region, is facing a water crisis as a result of the phenomenon of climate change and its serious repercussions represented by drought and desertification, indicating that Iraq suffers from severe problems in this regard, in addition to the great shortage of rain and snow, which affected aspects of life and agriculture, explaining that the sources of the rivers and the tributaries entering them all come from neighboring countries.
The President of the Republic indicated that Iraq is in the process of submitting a set of proposals to the Turkish side regarding confronting the water crisis for the purpose of discussing and agreeing on it and reaching a final and implementable result regarding water shares.
For his part, Faisal Eroglu expressed his happiness at meeting the President of the Republic, appreciating his proposals, indicating that his country is looking forward to serious and fruitful cooperation in the water file to reach positive understandings that serve the supreme interests of the two neighboring countries, stressing President Erdogan's focus on the importance of paying exceptional attention to Iraq's water needs.
The Special Envoy of the Turkish President also presented a detailed report on the works and projects that the Turkish side can undertake in the field of cooperation with Iraq on the issue of confronting the water crisis and desertification and the development of water management and irrigation methods./ End
Source: National Iraqi News Agency