Beirut (agencies)
The Minister of Energy and Water in the Lebanese caretaker government, Walid Fayyad, announced yesterday that Egypt is ready to pump gas, pending financing from the World Bank.
After his meeting with the caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Minister Fayyad said: “I briefed President Mikati on the atmosphere of my visit to Egypt, where Egyptian officials reiterated that they are ready at the commercial, contractual and technical levels, meaning that the line is ready, the quantities are available, and the contract is also ready.” He continued, “We agreed on the need to work, on our part, with the World Bank to secure entry into financing negotiations as soon as possible, and this is what we will seek.” He added, “We discussed the issue of reforms that we must work on, including reconsidering the tariff to cover, even partially, the cost of electricity.” He pointed out that «the visit to Iraq was discussed and put it in the atmosphere of this very positive visit, through which officials in Iraq, including the ministers of finance, oil and electricity, and the governor of the Central Bank, expressed to us their intention to stand by Lebanon at this stage and to complete the positive work they are doing, and to extend (Fuel Agreement), which enables us to have a few hours of electricity.”
