Erdogan, Assad lay foundation stone of "friendship dam" (Roundup)

Feb 6, 2011, 14:54 GMT

Damascus - Syrian President Bashar Assad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the 'friendship dam' on the Orontes River, the Syrian news agency SANA reported.

The hyrdo-electric dam is expected to irrigate 10,000 hectares of agricultural land in Syria and Turkey and generate 16 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

In January 2010, Syria and Turkey signed an agreement to build the 'friendship dam' along their border.

'We want the whole region to prosper, together with Turkey,' Erdogan said at the Turkish-Syrian border.

'God willing, the dam will be completed in a short time. We will jointly use the electricity to be produced and we will jointly irrigate our fields.'

Erdogan was due to hold talks later with Assad in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Ties between Syria and Turkey improved under Erdogan, with Ankara signing a series of trade deals and visa-free travel accords with countries in the region, including Lebanon.

'We have always said that there should be no problems between brothers ... and that if there are any, they should be resolved,' Erdogan said.

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