Syria, Czech to enhance cooperation in implementing drinking water projects

Minister of Water

Resources in the Caretaker Government Osama Abu Zaid discussed during his meeting yesterday with a Czech delegation means of cooperation between the two countries in the field of implementing and installing drinking water purification plants in the most needy areas.

Minister Abu Zaid pointed, during the meeting that took place in the ministry’s building, to the challenges facing the ministry, in light of the devastating infrastructure and severe damage caused to the water situation in Syria during the former regime period.

In a statement after the meeting, Minister Abu Zaid drew attention to the ministry’s cooperation with international organizations for the issue of water purification, especially in the areas of eastern Homs and Hama, as well as in the countryside of Aleppo and Palmyra that suffers from high proportions of fluorine in water.

He pointed out that the ministry seeks to make water completely conform with the Syrian specifications.

Minister Abu Zaid pointed to the diability of water stations due to the absence of electricity, the lack of financing, fuel and maintenance work, in addition to the previous debts left by the defunct regime.

For his part, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Czech Foreign Ministry Peter Haladik said: “We are working to lift the sanctions on the Syrian people and contribute to the rehabilitating the destroyed areas, and we are working to develop mechanisms to improve the projects that we previously implemented to ensure their future sustainability.

Raghda Sawas