Jordan and Iraq on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed to prepare a joint project proposal to develop industrial raw materials and rocks, as an investment opportunity, establish a shared geological database, and cooperate in the manpower training field.
The MoU was signed by the ministry’s Assistant Secretary-General for Energy Affairs, Hassan Hiyari, and head of the Iraqi technical delegation, Rafid Abdul-Jalil Jabbar.
In press remarks, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Kharabsheh said the two countries agreed to establish and integrate a geological database along their shared border areas, to be completed before the end of 2022.
Kharabsheh noted the two sides also agreed to prepare a proposal for joint projects to develop industrial raw materials and rocks as an investment opportunity.
This process, he said, includes projects to upgrade phosphate rock raw materials for manufacturing industries to increase their economic feasibility and upgrade silica sand rocks for high purity industrial materials that can be invested to enhance their economic profitability.
In addition, he noted the two sides agreed to prepare a joint training program to exchange workers, adding that a slew of measures will be taken to activate joint cooperation and complete the mutual program before the end of 2022.
Stressing the MoU’s importance, he said the agreement is in line with the ministry’s interest in exploiting natural resources and launching a number of projects in this regard.
The ministry, he noted, published a number of investment opportunities on natural resources in a number of the Kingdom’s regions, adding that work is underway to exploit natural resources in light of the world’s developments and their repercussions on the issue of food and food chains.
For his part, Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals Manhal Aziz Al Khabbaz lauded outcomes of the Jordanian-Iraqi technical committees’ work as “positive,” adding that their cooperation has lasted 4 months to reach these outputs.
Al Khabbaz also stressed the importance of the two countries’ cooperation in the field of natural resources, in response to the interest of the two countries’ leaderships to exploit these mineral resources as alternatives to energy, especially silica ore.
He pointed out the importance of working to reduce carbon emissions and introduction of phosphates and sulfur into the agricultural process as fertilizers due to their key outcomes on food security and climate change.
Al Khabbaz referred to timetables for joint cooperation, adding that their outcomes will surface within 6 months.
SOURCE: JORDAN NEWS AGENCY