Syrian petroleum minister in Egypt to activate gas project

Syrian petroleum minister Mohammed Maher Jamal and his accompanying delegation arrived in Cairo on Monday on a three-day visit to Egypt during which he is due to be received by his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Fahmy to discuss bilateral cooperation and activate a joint gas project.

The visit is part of regular visits between officials from Egypt and Syria with the aim of increasing cooperation between the two countries in different fields, Jamal said shortly after arriving.

He expressed his hope that the visit would see putting in place a framework and mechanism for carrying out a project for exporting Egypt's natural gas to Syria through activating a related Syrian-Lebanese-Jordanian agreement.

Meetings are currently being held between Egyptian and Syrian technical groups to examine the best way for carrying out the project and establishing an Egyptian-Syrian-Lebanese company to that end, the Syrian minister said.

Meanwhile, Fahmy described the project as representing a first step for creating a joint Arab gas market.

Under the project, gas pipelines are to be extended from Egypt to Jordan, then from Jordan to Syria, then to Lebanon and Turkey in later stages.