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Dr.Omar Katana,the president of the authority of energy and natural resources r talks with External Relations of the European Commision Benitia Waldner,about the needs of the Palestinian lands for energy projects traditional and non-traditional

2007-11-04

Dr.Omar Katana,the president of the authority of energy and natural resources r talks with External Relations of the European Commision Benitia Waldner,about the needs of the Palestinian lands for energy projects traditional and non-traditional

Katana and  Waldner met on the sidelines of his participation in the International Energy Conference of the States-Middle East, European, African, held last Thursday, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the importance of the issues examined by the participants in the conference at the level of strengthening joint cooperation in the energy sector. Katana , in an interview with "days" said that is responsible for activating the European promised level of European support for the financing of wave energy projects, and work to increase European assistance in support of Palestinian needs of electricity, alternative energy, in addition to its EU funding for the value received for the fuel station Strip to generate electricity. Katana ‘s speech during the conference reviewed the reality of the energy sector in the Palestinian territories, and the pressing needs to strengthen this sector in the light of the new Israeli restrictions, which affected reduce the amount of fuel and energy contained to the Gaza Strip.
He called on countries participating in this conference, to supplement the energy sector projects new "small" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, dependent on the provision of alternative energy from the sun and wind, like alternative energy project, which is being implemented in the city of Jericho.
He also addressed in his speech the needs of rural areas and village in the West Bank to energy projects, the development of electricity networks already in place in some villages of the West Bank, which need rehabilitation. He stressed the importance of developing the level of technical support required for the rehabilitation of the functional capacity, through instructive experience and specialized training courses, and to provide direct support to the authority contained in the Plan of energy projects and programs aimed at completely different year Advancement of the energy sector. And many of the participating States initiated the invitation energy authority participation in the activities of international organized in the towns during the coming period, pointing to the attention paid by participants in the research and study opportunities to support the energy needs of the Palestinian territories. Katana searched with Egyptian Electricity Minister Hassan Yunis, electricity linkage project between the sector and the Egyptian territories, which is funded by the Islamic Development Bank worth 32 million dollars.
He expected that during the current month a meeting between the Palestinian and Egyptian agreement on the bidding project, and the presence of the parties funded for the project. Katana  also discussed with the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi, a draft gas supply Gaza Strip, saying that the two ministers are shown fully prepared to overcome all the obstacles facing energy projects, electricity shared between the two sides, and work to implement them when the situation in the Gaza Strip so.
Katana called on the Israeli side to retreat from recent decision of unjustified punitive measures, which included the reduction and reducing the amount of fuel and energy contained to the Gaza Strip, saying that such actions constituted a violation of the agreements signed between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. In a related development, the Waldner confirmed in a press statement recently, the European Union"s intention to provide more aid to the Palestinians, stressing that this year will be spending more years on the European humanitarian assistance and development for the Palestinians.
The UNHCR provided since the beginning of this year, about 450 million euros, is expected to spend an additional one hundred million euros until the end of the year, as well as by some European Union countries to provide assistance bilaterally and roughly similar amounts.