Brussels, 23/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Secretariat General of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) has spoken of “significant progress” in implementation of the desalination project to help Gaza, which has been approved by 43 UfM member states. According to the UfM, the plant and infrastructure to be installed to ensure the supply of drinking water to over 1.8 million Palestinians is a “sustainable solution to the chronic and persisting water shortage that plagues the area”.
The crucial question is how the financing it to be put together to achieve this project. In a press release on Friday 19 February, the Secretariat of the UfM announced that a meeting took place in Brussels on 15 February with representatives from the government of Palestine, Israel, the European Commission and the Quartet to discuss this. All the parties concerned (Palestine, Israel and the Commission) affirmed their support for the project, according to the UfM. It also says the Commission, represented by Michael Koehler, the director of DG Near, “expressed the EU's full support in contributing to the financing of the project”. According to this press release, the Israeli delegation “confirmed the political support of its government to the project and its commitment to facilitating the construction of the plant”, whilst the Palestinian delegation confirmed its “determination to take all the necessary measures for implementing the project”. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)