Riyadh-- H.E. Eng. Hayan Abdul Ghani Al-Swad, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil of the Republic of Iraq, visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after receiving an invitation from HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Minister of Energy.
During the visit, a meeting was held between the two sides headed by both ministers and concluded with the following joint statement:
The two sides discussed matters of common interest in the fields of energy and agreed to continue to carry out important projects in gas, petrochemicals, electricity and renewables, as well as to enhance communication between both sides to explore further shared opportunities in these fields to become tangible partnerships in ways to realize the directions of the two fraternal countries’ leaderships and the ambitions of their peoples.
Both sides commended the progress achieved in the Saudi-Iraqi power grid interconnection project, stressing the importance of accelerating its execution and maximizing future interconnection capacity, to realize the aspirations of the two countries in international power grid interconnection and electricity export.
The two sides also stressed the importance of promoting Saudi-Iraqi cooperation on electricity and renewable energy, including the operation and maintenance of power grids and plants and cooperation on developing renewable energy plants.
Both sides also agreed to promote cooperation between the two countries on clean technologies to manage hydrocarbon emissions, within the initiatives stemming from the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI), based on the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE) framework. These
initiatives include establishing a knowledge hub and a regional carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) hub for managing and reducing emissions to address climate change.
The two sides also stressed the importance of exchanging expertise in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon, reducing methane emissions and gas flaring and benefiting from the Kingdom’s experience in the Liquid Fuel Displacement Program.
The two sides reviewed developments in global oil markets, stressing the importance of continuing the collective action within the framework of the OPEC+ agreement, and the adherence of their countries to the recent decision made by OPEC+ that extends to the end of 2023, which has the endorsement of member states, alongside the ability to take further measures, if required, to achieve balance and stability in the market.
Source: Saudi Press Agency