LOC00:53
21:53 GMT
CAIRO, May 28 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's Minister of Public Works and Labor, Minister of Electricity and Water Ahmad Al-Jassar called Wednesday for more effective cooperation among the Arab countries to address the challenge of water shortage.
"The Arab countries established a ministerial council on water to coordinate stances on water shortage which poses a challenge to Arab national security," the minister told KUNA at the end of the seventh session of the Arab water ministers' council at the Arab League's HQs here.
"The council has debated and approved the water strategy in the Arab region and will table it to the coming social, economic and development summit for final endorsement," Al-Jassar revealed.
"We've also discussed the Kuwaiti experiment in rationalizing the water consumption," he added, deeming the meeting as fruitful.
In its final statement, the ministerial council urged the Arab countries to consult, and ink memoranda of understanding, with the State of Palestine on how to back up the latter's water sector.
The statement also called on the Arab countries to mull the possibility of convening a donor conference on the water shortage in Palestine and a seawater desalination project in Gaza Strip in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
It invited the regional and international organizations as well as NGOs to the first Palestinian conference on water, to be held in the West Bank city of Ramallah later this year.
On the Israeli exploitation of the Arab water resources in the occupied territories, the ministerial council renewed the invitation to the international conference on "Arab water under occupation," due here in October, 2016.
The council tasked the League's secretariat to oversee the preparations for that conference in coordination with the council technical committee, according to the statement.
The conferees appreciated the financial support to the planned conference offered by Iraq, the IDB and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD).
They also approved the set-up of executive office of the Arab water ministers' council for 2016-2017, consisting of the troika of the League's council - Egypt, Kuwait and Morocco, and three alternating members - Iraq, Oman and Palestine. (end)
mfm.aff.mmb.gb