Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority Sign Red Sea-Dead Sea Pipeline
Agreement
(Communicated by the Ministry of Regional Cooperation)

Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, this afternoon (local time;
Monday, 9 December 2013), in Washington DC, at the headquarters of the World
Bank, signed an agreement on laying a water pipeline to link the Red Sea
with the Dead Sea.

Regional Cooperation, and National Infrastructures, Energy and Water
Minister Silvan Shalom signed for Israel. Water and Irrigation Minister
Hazem Al Nasser signed for Jordan. Water Authority Minister Dr. Shaddad
Attili signed for the Palestinian Authority.

The pipeline will be 180 kilometers long and will pass through Jordanian
territory. It will channel 100 million cubic meters of water per annum
northward from the Red Sea and will cost an estimated $300-400 million. A
BOT tender for the project will be published in 2014. The pipeline will take
an estimated three years to complete. The inflow of water from the Red Sea
will slow the drying up of the Dead Sea and its concomitant negative
effects.

Approximately 200 million cubic meters of water will be drawn per annum.
Around 80 million cubic meters will be desalinated at a facility to be built
in Aqaba facility with Israel receiving 30-50 million cubic meters of water
for the Arava region and Eilat, and with Jordan receiving 30 million cubic
meters of water for use in the south. Israel will also sell Jordan another
50 million cubic meters of water from the Kinneret for use in the north.

Minister Shalom said, "This is a historic agreement that realizes a dream of
many years and the dream of Herzl. The agreement is of the highest
diplomatic, economic, environmental and strategic importance." He added, "I
am pleased that an investment of years has reached its hoped-for conclusion
and will benefit Israel and the residents of the region as a whole. The
other goals of this project are the generation of electricity by utilizing
the difference in elevation between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and the
development of tourism infrastructures."

For further details, please contact Minister Shalom's Media Adviser Barak
Seri at 050-6272013, or Talia Treiber, at the Regional Cooperation Ministry
Spokesperson's Dept., at 054-5330077.