On Monday, Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates signed the "electricity for water" agreement, in the presence of the US climate envoy, John Kerry, as it is the "largest regional cooperation deal", including several projects in the field of energy and water.
The agreement was signed by the Israeli Minister of Energy, Karen Elharar, the Jordanian Minister of Water, Muhammad Al-Najjar, and the Emirati delegate for climate issues, Sultan Al-Jaber.
The Emirates News Agency, WAM, stated that the agreement is a "declaration of intent" that includes one project consisting of two axes, the "Green Prosperity" program, and includes the development of solar photovoltaic power plants in Jordan with a production capacity of 600 megawatts, provided that the entire energy production is exported. Clean to Israel.
The second axis is the "Blue Prosperity" program, which aims to develop sustainable water desalination projects in Israel to supply Jordan with about 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water.
The agency indicated that work on the feasibility studies for this project is scheduled to begin in 2022.
The American Axios website had quoted officials as saying that the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, "Masdar", would build a huge solar farm in the Jordanian desert.
And "Masdar" is a company owned by the Mubadala Investment Fund, of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The solar farm, funded by the Emirates, will provide renewable energy to Israel, which in turn will build a water desalination plant for Jordan on its lands off the Mediterranean coast.
Israel needs clean energy, but unlike its neighbor Jordan does not have the right land for solar farms, prompting Kerry to broker talks that were finalized last Tuesday.
In contrast, Jordan needs water, but can build desalination plants in the remote south of the country, while the Israeli coast is closer to Jordan's large population centers.
This agreement comes after secret talks between the three governments reached the stage of seriousness in September and crystallized into a draft agreement during October.
The American website, quoting Israeli officials, indicated that the agreement was to be concluded on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow “Cop 26”, but the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, asked to postpone the signing, fearing that the deal would lead to internal political criticism days before the approval of the agreement. The country's budget early this month.
Axios said that this deal indicates an increase in Jordan's strategic importance to the new government in Israel, after the two countries' relations were frosty during the era of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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