Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Egypt and the Palestinian Authority signed, on Sunday, a memorandum of exacerbation regarding the development of the natural gas field within the Gaza Strip, according to the official Palestinian News Agency (WAFA).
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the partner parties in the Gaza gas field, represented by the Investment Fund and the Consolidated Contractors Company, with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), to cooperate with the endeavors to develop the Gaza gas field and the necessary infrastructure, in a manner that “meets Palestine’s natural gas needs.” … (with) the possibility of exporting part of the gas “to Egypt.
The memorandum was signed on the Egyptian side by the head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, Magdy Jalal, and on the Palestinian side, the advisor to the Palestinian President for Economic Affairs and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Palestinian Investment Fund, Muhammad Mustafa.
The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Tariq Al-Mulla, attended the moment of signing on the sidelines of his visit to Ramallah and Jerusalem. Earlier on Sunday, he met Palestinian and Israeli officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz.
The two sides stressed the importance of consolidating the unified Egyptian and Palestinian positions towards the need to accelerate the development of the Gaza gas field, stressing the importance of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum in facilitating the exploitation of member states of their natural resources, especially gas.
The Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum was established in January 2019, and its headquarters are in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. It includes 7 Mediterranean countries: Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Greece, Cyprus and Italy.
The forum aims to establish a regional market in the eastern Mediterranean region, which has high gas reserves.
