The deputy head of Iran’s Environment Organization announced that the president of Iraq has committed to greater cooperation to resolve the problem of dust particles.
Ali Mohammad Shaeri told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday about talks with the Iraqi president during the NAM summit, saying: “President Nouri Al-Maleki has made the appropriate promises about greater Iraqi cooperation to control the problem of dust particles.”
He added that international organizations such as the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have been urged to assist Iraq with greater supervision in order to implement the plans to resolve the growing concern with dust particles.
Establishing monitoring systems for dust particles, reducing desert surfaces by creating vegetation areas, replacing seven million palms that were destroyed during the Iran-Iraq War and the use of mulch are some of the ways the two countries are to cooperate to resolve this environmental problem.
Shaeri also told ILNA that the two countries have established a joint fund to cover the financial cost of resolving the dust particles issue, adding that Iran’s projected investment in the fund is about $100 million.
In recent years, dust particles have become a major problem in several Iranian cities, especially in the western regions of the country.
