Ammon News - AMMAN (Petra) – Minister of Water and Irrigation and Minister of Agriculture Hazem Nasser on Sunday briefed the Council of Ministers on the Red Sea-Dead Sea water conveyance project.

During a session chaired by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, the ministers, acting upon a recommendation by the Economic Development Committee, agreed to proceed with the water desalination project as a first phase and prepare a detailed study and tender documents for the mega project which involves desalination of about 100 million cubic meters of water to be supplied to the Kingdom's various regions.

Finance Minister UmayyaTouqan also gave a briefing on the initial paper about the government's priorities and policies in the 2014-2016 state budget and outlined key economic and fiscal features for 2012 and the projected economic performance this year as well as proposed measures needed in 2014.

Also, during the session, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ibrahim Saif updated the cabinet members on a governorates development scheme based on the royal directives to the government to put in place a master plan to develop the Kingdom's various regions.

Saif spoke about development programs the government will carry out nationwide between 2014 and 2016, while addressing the developmental discrepancies among various regions.

Those major strategic projects will be detailed at a press conference that Ensour and the government's economic team will hold on Monday.