Water and Energy Minister, Walid Fayad, on Wednesday signed along with his Syrian counterpart, Ghassan Al-Zamel, and Jordanian counterpart, Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, agreements to supply and transmit electricity to Lebanon.

In this context, Fayad indicated that 250 megawatts of electricity would be secured in cooperation with Jordan, and with the support of Syria.

“We count on this joint Arab action in a bid to expand cooperation between Arab countries,” Fayad said.

“This agreement was supposed to be accomplished within 6 months, but we’ve managed to accomplish in two months. We still await financing by the World Bank, but we will work on as soon as possible so that this agreement becomes effective,” Fayad explained.

“We are also working on signing the Arab gas contract with Egypt,” he noted.

For his part, Kharabsheh pointed out that “during this historic moment, we are signing an electric power exchange contract and a gas transit agreement with Lebanon and Syria. The importance of this agreement is that it paves the way for enhancing communication and cooperation between our countries. (…) We are committed to cooperating with each other for the benefit of all.”

Moreover, Kharabsheh made it clear that massive efforts were underway to prepare the network, as it is ready to transfer energy from Jordan, through the Syrian network, to Lebanon.”

As for Minister Al-Zamel, he stressed that “the Syrian government certainly insisted on making this agreement a success.

“Of course, we have accomplished all the work that we had pledged to accomplish within the specified period, and we deem this the beginning of Arab-Arab cooperation, yet the beginning of more cooperation in all fields,” Al-Zamel said.