Syria, Egypt to carry out 3rd step of Arab natural gas pipeline

Syria and Egypt agreed Monday on setting up an establishment to carry out the 3rd step of the Arab natural gas pipeline which extends from Jordanian Rihab region to the Syrian city of Homs and then to the Syrian-Turkish borders.

In a press conference following a four-way meeting between Egyptian Minister of Oil Samih Fihmi, Jordanian Minister of Power and Mineral Resources, Turkish Minister of Power and Natural Resources Hilmi Guler, Syrian Minister of Oil Ibrahim Haddad said the meeting dealt with means of using Syrian and Egyptian expertise in the field of oil.

He also pointed out to an underway technical study between a Syrian and an Egyptian establishments for authorizing Syrian and Egyptian establishments to implement the 3rd step of the natural gas pipeline inside Syria.

For his part, Fihmi underlined that the 3rd step is to be finished by 2007 and extend as far as east Europe, and a proposed 3,300 km Napoko pipeline which links Turkey, Belgium, Romania, Hungary and Austria as part of the EU states' interest in linking the Arab pipeline to the European gas pipelines.