A significant agreement was signed recently between Israel and Jordan in February.

Israel’s Regional Cooperation Minister Silvan Shalom signed the “Seas Canal” agreement with Jordanian Water and Irrigation Minister Hazim El-Naser at a ceremony attended by dignitaries from both sides as well as  representatives from the World Bank and the US embassies in Israel and Jordan.

The agreement sets relations between Israel and Jordan regarding implementation of the first stage of the “Seas Canal” project, including the construction of a desalination plant north of Aqaba that would supply water to the Aravah region in Israel and to Aqaba in Jordan.

Residual saline brines will be piped to the Dead Sea via an approximately 200-km pipeline from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea in order to stabilise and save the latter. In the framework of the agreement, water from northern Israel will be piped to Amman.