Iraq, upstream countries discuss water quotas 

Iraq’s Water Resources Minister, Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, yesterday said he would continue to coordinate enhancing the country’s water quotas with upstream countries.

Speaking at the inauguration of a national project in the Iraqi province of Dhi Qar, Al-Hamdani announced that his country was “determined to eliminate all violations of water quotas in Iraq.”

“Attention to the agriculture sector is an urgent necessity for the Iraqi economy to succeed,” Al-Hamdani was quoted by the official INA as saying. He expressed his hope “to deliver irrigation water to most agricultural lands.”

In October, the ministry’s spokesperson, Ali Radhi Thamer, said that the negotiations with neighbouring countries on water quotas, especially with Turkey, had witnessed “great progress.” He explained that the ministry was intending to sign a protocol with Turkey “to manage the waters of the Tigris River and secure Iraq’s monthly water quota,” the first agreement in more than 30 years.

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