SIGN ENERGY AND WATER DEAL
Three-way agreement enhances cooperation over electricity,
natural gas and sewage treatment
ISRAEL
signed an agreement with GREECE and CYPRUS that promises to link the three
countries’ electricity grids via an underwater cable.
The
tripartite energy memorandum of understanding came after nearly a year of
negotiations and was signed in Nicosia, CYPRUS, by Energy and Water Resources
Minister Silvan Shalom; Nicos Kouyialis, the CYPRIOT minister of agriculture,
natural resources and environment; and George Lakkotrypis, the GREEK minister
for the environment, energy and climate change.
The
underwater, 2,000-mega-watt EUROASIA Interconnector “will lift CYPRUS out of
energy isolation, with cheaper electricity which will help our economy become
more competitive,” Lakotrypis said.
Shalom
said the “historic” agreement “demonstrates the strong and tightening relations
between the countries.” He added that the “electric conduit can easily become a
cable that will supply and export electricity to the EUROPEAN energy market,
and provide us with energy security.”
THE AGREEMENT ALSO DEALT WITH NATURAL GAS AND WATER ISSUES.
The
three countries will work together to protect natural gas fields, and have
launched a project to cooperate with treatment of sewage as well as recycling
water for use in farming. TURKEY has challenged CYPRUS’S right to some of
the gas fields it claims, and has even threatened military intervention.
Background Information:
ENERGY RUSH IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND ITS
POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
CHANGING THE GEOPOLITICAL BALANCE OF POWER IN THE
MIDDLE EASTERN REGION
Kouyialis
said that the agreement signed on marks the continuation of an already existing
partnership. He noted that ISRAELI companies were involved in the establishment
of three of his country’s four permanent desalination plants.
“A
new era of cooperation starts today in the field of sewage treatment and waste
water reuse that will help CYPRUS improve its water balance, as substantial and
constant quantities of recycled water will be utilized in the best possible
way,” said Kouyialis.
REGIONAL WATER SECURITY A NECESSITY
Shalom
said that “ISRAEL would like to give any help needed” and added that regional
water security was necessary, “even though CYPRUS is not facing the same
threats that ISRAEL is facing from terrorists.”
Background Information:
IAF TO BE STATIONED IN CYPRUS
CYPRUS AND ISRAEL
TO BECOME MAJOR GAS EXPORTERS IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE
ISRAEL’S
partnership with CYPRUS on natural gas is seen as a challenge to TURKEY, which
has threatened Cyprus over gas fields it claims for itself. Jerusalem upgraded
its relationship with CYPRUS and GREECE as its ties with TURKEY, once the
Jewish state’s prime regional ally, began to deteriorate following the rise of
Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2007.
Background
Information:
TURKEY RESUMES NATO TIES WITH ISRAEL
ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE RESOURCES
CYPRUS: EMERGING
GEO-STRATEGIC KEY PLAYER IN THE EASTER MEDITERRANEAN?
By Asher Zeiger
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