TEHRAN - Syrian Minister of Electricity, Mohammad Zuheir Kharboutli called for participation of Iranian companies in his country’s major electricity projects, IRIB reported.

In a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Reza Ardakanian on the sidelines of Iran’s International Electricity Exhibition (IEE 2019) on Wednesday, Kharboutli stressed the importance of Aleppo thermal power plant project and called for Iranian private sector’s contribution to maintenance and rehabilitation of the power station.

The official also called for knowledge transfer and exchange of experiences with Syria for the production of electricity industry’s required equipment.

Kharboutli also mentioned the establishment of a trilateral electricity network among Iran, Syria and Iraq, as well as construction of renewable power plants in his country, among other issues discussed at the meeting.

The Syrian minister also underlined the formation of a joint committee between the deputies of the two countries’ energy ministries in order to follow up on the implementation of a two-year plan to supply the whole Syria with electricity.

Iran, Syria to set up joint electricity task force

On the sideline of the meeting, Ardakanian also announced that within the next two days, a joint task force between Iran and Syria will be formed to pursue joint projects in the electricity industry, IRNA reported.

“Setting up this working group will help to follow up on the two sides’ join projects more seriously and also to find solutions for any rising problems in the future cooperation,” Ardakanian said.

Currently, Iranian companies are participating in several major projects in Syria’s electricity industry among which construction of a major power plant in Latakia could be mentioned.
The project is being carried out by Iran’s Mapna Group.

The deal for construction of Latakia power plant was finalized in October 2018 when the Mapna group, the largest energy construction company in Iran, signed an agreement with Syrian authorities to build the power plant and the gas pipeline that feeds it.

Zuheir Kharboutli traveled to Tehran on top of a delegation to visit the country’s international electricity exhibition and to pursue previous discussions made with Iranian officials on cooperation in Syria’s electricity sector.

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