$450 million in soft loans

Iran willing to take part in major energy and water projects

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Iran and Lebanon for cooperation in the fields of energy and water was ratified on March 30.

According to the MoU, Iran will offer Lebanon a total of $450 million in the form of soft loans to fund projects in the energy and water sectors.

Through the MoU, the ministries of energy and water of both countries agreed to cooperate in building power plants in Lebanon. According to the agreement, Iran is also willing to contribute to the rehabilitation of the local energy infrastructure, mainly power transmission lines and transformer substations.

In accordance with the agreement, Iran declared its readiness to sell the country electrical power directly, via transmission lines through either Turkey and Syria or through Iraq and Syria.

In the water sector, Iran expressed a willingness to support Lebanon in designing a water system. According to the agreement, Lebanon will facilitate the involvement of Iranian companies in the anticipated projects in the water sector.

Lebanon and Iran will form two joint technical committees one for each the energy and water sectors.

Reported by Hanadi Chami