Israel, Jordan sign UAE-funded water-for-power project in Sharm el-Sheikh

Israel and Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding of a water-for-power project on Tuesday during the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh. 

The MOU ceremony was held in the presence of US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej represented Israel, the former Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammed al-Najjar represented Jordan, and Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam Almheiri represented UAE.

The MOU sought to accelerate the implementation of a project involving water in exchange for electricity that was agreed upon a year ago. 

Based on the MOU, the parties commit to expediting the various stages of the project as Jordan will build 600 megawatts of solar power capacity that would be exported to Israel. In return, Israel would provide water-scarce Jordan with 200 million cubic meters (mcm) of desalinated water.

The project will be funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  which became the first Gulf state in 2020 to normalise relations with Israel and has been a partner in the project, with the US brokering the agreement.