Minister of Energy and Water, Walid Fayad left Beirut this evening, heading to Cairo to chair the meeting of the 13th session of the Arab Ministerial Water Council, after the presidency of the current session of the Council was transferred to Lebanon for a full year, passed on by the State of Qatar.

Prior to his departure, Fayad delivered a work from the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, in which he pledged to raise the issue of “water scarcity, in light of the effects of wars that for us are affected by the repercussions of the economic and financial crisis, and also the crisis related to the war in Syria, for which Lebanon, unfortunately, bears the negative repercussions along with its brothers in Syria. This is reflected on the water infrastructure.”

He added: “We will work with our Arab brothers, led by Egypt and all the Gulf states, to demand and defend our rights regarding the issue of water in order to prevent the abuses committed by the Israeli enemy in a number of rivers and water sources that we own.”

On the developments as to supplying Lebanon with gas and energy, Fayad said: “Lebanon is working in all directions and in the environmental, contractual and commercial aspects, as well as the political in terms of not being affected by Caesar’s law. We are also working alongside the World Bank to finance projects, based on certain conditions we are presently addressing, and which should be finalized in the next few months.”