Iraq and Saudi Arabia Sign the Gulf Interconnection and Electricity Supply Agreements

Shafaq News/ On the sidelines of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, Iraq and Saudi Arabia signed agreements to provide stable and reduced-cost electricity through the contract with the Gulf Interconnection Authority.

The deal was signed by the acting minister from the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity and the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Energy/ Chairman of the Board of Directors at the GCC Interconnection Authority on the Saudi side.

The GCC includes Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman.

"This agreement will create conditions for the stability of the electricity supply for the Iraqi national electricity grid, especially with the high demand in the summer." The media office of the Iraqi prime minister said.

A second protocol agreement was also signed to supply electricity to Iraq from Saudi Arabia and for the Iraqi national electricity grid to "become an interconnection hub for power transmission between the continents of Asia and Europe."

The protocol was signed by the Minister of Oil on the Iraqi side and the Minister of Energy on the Saudi side.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the agreement to link the electricity networks of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to the Iraqi grid.

"We agreed to link the electricity network in Iraq with the network of the Cooperation Council," Biden said at a press conference in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

President Biden said linking the electricity networks would "provide Iraq and its people with new and diversified electricity sources."