ANKARA - Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler said on Wednesday that Iraq needed an important amount of electricity and added that his ministry would provide consultancy service to Iraq on that issue.
Guler received Iraqi Electricity Minister Ayham al Samarrai and accompanying delegation.
Guler held a press conference after the meeting and said that they would support Iraq regarding production and transfer of electricity and repair of distribution facilities and their development. He added that they would make cooperation on exchange of technical personnel and training.
Recalling that Turkey had started to transfer 200 megawatts of electricity to Iraq in previous days, Guler said that second package of one thousand megawatts of electricity would be transferred within the agreement they have reached.
Guler said that there were insufficiency and damages in electricity transfer lines and he added that those would be repaired as well.
Noting that Turkey, as a friend and neighbor country, would give support to Iraq on every field, Guler said that water transfer through railways was also on the agenda.
Samarrai said that electricity facilities in Iraq were majorly damaged during wars and added that they could use only 5 thousand megawatts of 10 thousand megawatts of electricity.
Samarrai said that Turkey had important experiences in Iraq and added that they called Turkey for help by coming to Iraq.
(GC-AY) 12.11.2003