Jordan, Israel, UAE sign 'declaration of intent' on energy, water exchange

Jordan, on Monday, announced signing a declaration of intent for exchanging water for energy with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The three countries will start talks to explore the feasibility of a joint energy and water project, according to Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

The Ministry said in a statement that the declaration of intent means “entering the process of feasibility studies during the next year, 2022, through which Jordan could obtain 200 million cubic meters of water annually.”

The statement stressed the signing of the declaration “is not an agreement, neither from a technical nor a legal point of view, and that the project will not be implemented without obtaining this amount of water annually.”

On the other hand, the Israeli Consulate in the UAE said on Twitter that the partner countries signed an agreement to trade energy for water, during a ceremony held at the UAE pavilion at the Dubai Expo.

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The consulate published a picture in which Israeli Energy Minister, Karine Elharrar, Jordanian Water Minister, Mohammad Al-Najjar, and UAE’s special envoy for climate change, Sultan Al-Jaber appeared, in the presence of US special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry.

Last month, Jordan signed an agreement with Israel to buy 50 million cubic meters of water from Tel Aviv—an additional amount to what was stipulated in the peace agreement signed between the two countries in 1994.