RIYADH: In a bid to boost economic cooperation, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have signed an electric power grids deal, a report said.
The oil minister of Iraq Ihsan Abdul Jabbar and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, the Saudi energy minister signed the agreement on Friday, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The signing of the agreement will not only strengthen bilateral commercial ties but also position Saudi Arabia as a regional hub for power grids and draw investment to the nation's electricity-producing projects, said Abdulaziz.
As per the Saudi Press Agency statement, the deal was signed ahead of the summit in Jeddah on Saturday, which will also include participation from the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq in addition to the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The US is putting more pressure on Iraq to stop importing energy and gas from Iran, which is under US sanctions since 2018. Iraq has received a number of waivers from US sanctions allowing it to continue importing Iranian energy, but the waivers may expire if Baghdad does not make significant progress in locating alternative sources of fuel and power.
The agreement will also accelerate the export and import of electricity between the two sides or with other Arab countries. The MoU is the latest of many cooperation initiatives between Saudi and Iraq that reflect the major progress made in the bilateral ties in recent years.
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