Water Minister, Norwegian envoy discuss desalination projects

Amman: Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abu Al Saud discussed on Wednesday with Norwegian Ambassador to Jordan Espen Lindback, accompanied by representatives of Norwegian companies, cooperation in implementing desalination projects, especially the strategic projects that Jordan intends to implement to secure additional sustainable water resources. The minister highlighted challenges Jordan is facing, especially in the water situation, indicating that despite the strenuous efforts adopted by Jordan in enhancing available water resources, climate change, the rise in demand as a result of the population increase, and the presence of hundreds of thousands of refugees exacerbate the gap between demand and availability. Abu Al Saud discussed Jordan's experiences in integrated water management of water sources, reducing water losses, and adopting integrated energy efficiency programs to reduce the energy bill, which is a great burden on the water sector, in addition to important projects that represent a long -term solution to the water issue in the Kingdom, such as the National Water Carrier Project. For his part, the Norwegian Ambassador lauded the efforts of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the development and construction processes, and the effective humanitarian efforts towards refugees, stressing that Jordan is one of the countries that have been able to deal with the difficulties of the water sector successfully despite its limited water resources. He expressed Norway's interest in active cooperation for the successful implementation of Jordan's leading and strategic water projects. Source: Jordan News Agency