Syrian Irrigation Minister Taha al-Atrash is expected in Iraq soon to seal an accord on sharing the waters of the Euphrates River, a newspaper said Monday.
Iraq's Irrigation Minister Mahmoud Diab al-Ahmad, quoted in Nabd al-Shabab, said the two neighbors had reached an agreement that he was to finalize in Baghdad with his Syrian counterpart. A date was not given for the visit.
But efforts to reach a three-way deal with Turkey, where the Euphrates originates, were not making headway because of Ankara's "intransigence," the Iraqi minister said.
Ankara rejects charges from Baghdad and Damascus that it is monopolizing the Euphrates and Tigris by building more than 20 dams. Both rivers rise in Turkish mountains and join together in southern Iraq before flowing into the Gulf. ¯ (AFP, Baghdad)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
