ANKARA Ñ Turkey has offered to sell water to Libya after a similar
offer was rejected by Israel.
The proposed sale would transfer water from Turkey's Manavgat river to
the North African country, which is almost entirely desert. Officials said a
key obstacle to the sale will be transportation of the water.
"We want to accelerate the works to transport waters of Manavgat River
to Libya," Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said. "This is not only an
economic but also a symbolic issue."
Cem met visiting Libyan counterpart Mohammed Abd Rahman Shalgam over the
weekend. The two ministers signed an accord for the improvement of
relations.
Officials said Tripoli was interested in Turkish investment in Libya's
energy sector. Libya has offered other countries concessions for oil and
natural gas fields in exchange for imports and technology. Currently, more
than 130 Turkish companies work in Libya and comprise a huge part of Libya's
consumer market.
"We want to improve the relations in every field and we will determine
new
means to this end," Shalgam said.
Turkey has also offered Israel water from the Manavgat river. But Israel
rejected a Turkish tender on grounds of price and a failure to ensure
transportation of the water.
