Afghan govt. is committed to Iran’s water rights from Helmand

Speaking on Wed. in response to a question regarding the remarks raised with relation to the inauguration of Kamal Khan Dam in Afghanistan, Saeed Khatibzadeh said that Helmand River has a defined legal regime and Iran's water rights are well defined and Afghan government is committed to it.

Elaborating on implementation of Afghanistan’s newly-built Kamal Khan Dam, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh reiterated that Helmand River legal system, that was signed between the two countries in 1972, is still effective in which Iran’s water share is defined in it so Afghanistan respects it.

“Of course, natural environment’s water right and safeguarding the living status of the region’s water ponds is a different issue, about which the Iranian officials have been negotiating with the Afghan government for a long time, and fortunately the Afghan officials, too, care about their water share, because if the water ponds are dried the resulting natural phenomena, such as sand storms will be hazardous for the people on both sides of the border,” he added in response to reporters’ respective questions.

Meanwhile, Khatibzadeh emphasized that the issue of development of Sistan has been in the focus of attention of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s various governments and in order to pursue with the development plans for the province water is needed.

“In that respect, the government has been studying and implementing numerous plans, including desalination of Oman Sea water, taking advantage of deep water resources, transferring water from other resources inside the country, and more important than all, improvement of the water usage patterns,” he added.

The foreign ministry spokesman also emphasized that Iranian government welcomes Afghan President’s proposal for turning the water issue into a topic for bilateral cooperation and stressed that Tehran is ready for taking any practical step in that respect.

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