Syria and Iraq signed a joint technical report on cooperation in water resources management and the exchange of technical data in the capital Baghdad on Thursday (June 25th).

Iraqi sources said that the signing of the minutes came at the conclusion of a bilateral meeting in Baghdad, chaired by the Technical Undersecretary of the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, Eng. Hussein Abdul-Amir Bakkah, and the Syrian Deputy Minister of Energy for Water and Electricity Affairs, Eng. Osama Khaled Abu Zeid, with the participation of the competent technical delegations from the Syrian and Iraqi sides.

The Department of Planning and Follow-up and the Department of International Water Studies at the Iraqi Ministry revealed that the minutes were drafted in light of a technical paper and working axes prepared in advance in coordination with the competent formations to discuss the prospects of cooperation and develop technical coordination mechanisms, especially with regard to the Euphrates River.

Review of dam operation experiences and measurement systems

A delegation from the Syrian Ministry of Energy held an extensive technical session with the Technical Undersecretary of the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, Dr. Hussein Abdul-Amir Bakkah, to develop field water coordination.

According to official sources, the Director of the Syrian General Authority for Water Resources, Eng. Ahmed Al-Kawan, and the Director of the Euphrates Dam General Corporation, Eng. Haitham Bakour, participated in the session, which was held as part of the program of the official visit to Baghdad, and the session included a review of the technical experiences of the Iraqi side in the fields of dam management and operation, monitoring water resources, and the development of approved measurement and monitoring systems.

The participating delegations discussed mechanisms for exchanging data and technical expertise between the two parties, in addition to strengthening joint training programs and building technical capacities between the competent institutions in the two countries.

The participants in the meetings stressed the importance of continuing the direct technical dialogue, and strengthening channels of communication and joint work between specialists in the fields of water, stressing that the consolidation of these technical tracks contributes to serving the common interests of Iraq and Syria and preserves the water rights of both parties in order to ensure sustainable water management.

What is the 1989 document regarding the water quotas of the Euphrates?

The 1989 document, or what is known as the Joint Record for the Sharing of the Euphrates River, is the most important legal reference that regulates the distribution of water between Syria and Iraq to date, and was signed in Baghdad on April 17, 1989, and then legally confirmed in 1990, becoming the framework on which the Euphrates administration is built between the two countries.

The document for the first time set fixed percentages for the sharing of water received from Turkey, so that Iraq receives 58% of the total flows, while 42% goes to Syria, and this formula came based on the economic cooperation protocol signed between Syria and Turkey in 1987, in which Ankara committed to pumping a minimum of 500 cubic meters per second at the Syrian border, and according to the calculations of the 1989 document, this amount translates into 290 m³/s for Iraq and 210 m³/s for Syria.

In 1994, Syria registered these understandings with the United Nations, in a move aimed at consolidating the Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish joint water rights in the waters of the Euphrates.