UpM’s Secretary General, Fathallah Sijilmassi, with Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyadh Al-Malki.
The Diplomat. Madrid
In February, Barcelona will host an international meeting to coordinate the project of a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip, within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) programmes. The participation of the European Commission, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and international financial institutions is expected.
The matter was tackled yesterday during a meeting by the secretary general of the UfM, Fathallah Sijilmassi, at its headquarters in Barcelona, with the Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyadh Al-Malki, and the Palestinian Ambassador to Spain, Musa Amer Odeh. Al-Maliki met the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, the day before in Madrid.
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The secretary general of the UfM met the Palestinian Foreign Minister
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According to a statement issued by the UfM, the meeting will deal with pending technical matters of the project, -which is expected to start at the end of 2016-, as well as financing mechanisms, and it will organize a Donor Conference throughout this year. The desalination plant will cost around 350 million euros and it will be made up of a plant on a large scale and an associated infrastructure of water supply. It is expected to supply more than 1.8 million inhabitants and to help solve, in the long term, the chronic lack of water in Gaza.
The project was approved in 2011 by the 43 countries that are part of the UfM (28 of the EU and 15 of the South and East of the Mediterranean), and it has the support of institutions such as the European Investment Bank, which has promoted technical preparations for the plant.
