Jordanian king receives Syrian, Egyptian, Lebanese PMs on the joint gas pipeline project

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday received Premiers Naji Otari of Syria, Atef Obeid of Egypt, and Rafic Hariri of Lebanon in the presence of Faysal al-Fayez of Jordan.

During the meeting, the King stressed the importance of the Arab Gas Pipelines Project as a basic step in supporting and enhancing joint Arab action, adding that this project achieves strong economic ties among participating countries.

Later, the four premiers held a meeting, during which they discussed the cooperation ties among Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan and the necessity of enhancing these ties through concentrating on joint projects to achieve economic integration.

Meanwhile, an agreement on implementing the second phase of the joint Arab Gas Pipelines Project between Jordan's government and an Egyptian Consortium was cosigned in the presence of the four premiers.

According to this agreement, the joint Egyptian - Jordanian "al - Fajr " Company will finance and implement this project which begins from Jordan's al-Aqaba Port to Syrian al-Rehab Town with a annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of Gas and cost of nearly $ 270 millions.

This project represents the second phase of the gas project phases which the four states have agreed to establish.

The first phase ended from Egypt's al-Aresh to Aqaba, whereas the third one will lay the pipelines from Syrian-Jordanian borders to Syria, then Lebanon, and in a next stage to Cyprus and Turkey.