Saudi Arabia, Iraq Sign Electricity Interconnection Agreement

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar sign the agreement (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar sign the agreement (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia, Iraq Sign Electricity Interconnection Agreement

Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar sign the agreement (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar sign the agreement (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia and Iraq signed the executive report on the principles of the electricity interconnection agreement between the two countries implementing the memorandum of understanding signed at the beginning of 2022.

The electrical interconnection will link from Arar in northern Saudi Arabia to Yusufiya near Baghdad and have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts and a voltage of 400 kilovolts, with a length of 435 km.

The event was attended by the Saudi Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who praised the role of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in accelerating the electricity connection with Iraq, which comes as confirmation of the continuous cooperation in all fields.

The Minister indicated that the deal also expresses both countries' desire to consolidate economic relations between them to achieve the aspirations of their leadership and people and ensure the speedy implementation of the project.

He explained that the completion of this project comes within the framework of Vision 2030 and its executive programs, which focuses on investing in the Kingdom's strategic location.

The project will contribute to supporting the reliability of the electrical networks in the two countries, achieving economic savings, supporting the integration of the networks into renewable energy, and achieving optimal investments in electricity generation projects.

The project also constitutes a step to establish a regional market for electricity trade and support the two countries' participation.

In addition, the Gulf Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) signed the contract between its network and the electricity grid of southern Iraq on the sidelines of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

The contract includes the authority's construction of lines from its substation in Kuwait to the al-Faw station in southern Iraq to ​​supply it with about 500 megawatts of energy from the Gulf countries.

Construction work will take about 24 months with a total transmission capacity of 1800 megawatts.



United States Imports Eggs from Korea, Türkiye to Help Ease Prices

Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)
Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)
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United States Imports Eggs from Korea, Türkiye to Help Ease Prices

Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)
Carton of eggs are seen in a box during a free eggs give away in New York City, on March 21, 2025. (Getty Images/AFP)

The United States is importing Turkish and South Korean eggs to ease an avian flu-fueled supply crunch that has pushed up prices across the country, Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary confirmed Friday.

Brooke Rollins told reporters in Washington that imports from Türkiye and South Korea had already begun and that the White House was also in talks with other countries about temporarily importing their eggs.

“We are talking in the hundreds of millions of eggs for the short term,” she added.

The cost of eggs has skyrocketed due to multiple bird flu outbreaks in the United States, forcing farmers to cull at least 30 million birds and sharply constraining supply.

On the political battlefield, egg prices became an unlikely rallying point for Trump on the campaign trail as he sought to capitalize on voters’ frustrations with the rising cost of essential items during his predecessor Joe Biden’s presidency.

After returning to office in January, Trump tasked Rollins with the job of boosting the supply of eggs, and bringing down prices.

In the weeks since, producers in several countries have reported American interest in their produce, with the Polish and Lithuanian poultry associations telling AFP that they had been approached by US diplomatic staff on the hunt for fresh eggs.

“There is a shortage of eggs in many countries,” Katarzyna Gawronska, director of the Poland’s National Chamber of Poultry and Feed Producers, said recently. “The key question would be what financial conditions would be offered by the Americans.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Rollins said that imports of eggs would be time-limited, and would stop once US poultry farmers were able to ramp up supply.

“When our chicken populations are repopulated and we’ve got a full egg laying industry going again, hopefully in a couple of months, we then shift back to our internal egg layers and moving those eggs out onto the shelf,” she said.