ISTANBUL, Oct 3: Turkey and Israel said on Friday they hoped to sign a framework agreement soon on the sale of water from Turkey to the Jewish state but added that price and transportation concerns still needed to be discussed, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Joseph Paritzky, Israel’s infrastructure minister, first told reporters here his country was close to finalizing a deal on buying water from Turkey and that the two sides had agreed on the price of the water, a sticking point which has prolonged the talks.

But he later told Anatolia that there had been a “misunderstanding”.

“We have only discussed general principles. We have definitely not discussed the price,” he said.

He said he hoped a framework agreement would be signed next month after which the two sides would discuss price and transportation.

Turkey’s Energy Minister Hilmi Guler also told reporters there had been no discussions on the price.

“We are only discussing the amount and the general routes at the moment,” he said, adding that the framework agreement could be signed in the second half of November.

Last year, Israel agreed to buy 50 million cubic meters (1.75 billion cubic feet) of water annually from Turkey over a 20-year period to try to solve its water shortage.

The two parties said at the time the issues of price and transportation would be resolved later.

Several means have been suggested for transporting the water from Turkey’s Mediterranean region, including tankers, plastic balloons and even a pipeline.

Turkey has built facilities capable of exporting 180 million cubic meters (6.3 billion cubic feet) of water annually on the Manavgat river, which flows to the Mediterranean near the port of Antalya.

Predominantly Muslim non-Arab Turkey has been the Jewish state’s main regional ally since 1996 when the two hammered out a military cooperation deal, much to the anger of Arab nations and Iran.—AFP