ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iraqi foreign ministry on Saturday said it has reached an understanding with Ankara to develop solutions for Iraq’s water crisis.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein arrived in Ankara on Friday, meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, amid worsening water shortages across the country, owing to upstream dams built by Turkey along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and Iraq’s drought-prone environment.

Hussein and Fidan later led a meeting between their respective delegations to “discuss the water file and strengthen bilateral cooperation in this vital field,” according to a statement from the Iraqi foreign ministry.

A meeting of the joint technical committee between the two countries was then held, where Iraqi Water Resources Minister Aoun Diab “reviewed the water reality in Iraq and the challenges faced by the country due to the decrease in water imports from the Tigris and Euphrates basin, emphasizing the importance of increasing water releases, especially in the river basin.”

“The two sides agreed to develop immediate and long-term solutions to address the water crisis, through the activation of the framework agreement for cooperation in the field of water, and the start of Turkish companies to implement related projects and infrastructure,” the statement added.

Iraqi authorities in July announced that Turkey has agreed to release an additional 420 cubic meters of water per second to Iraq from the upstream portions of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Abu Bakr Kazl-Kider, the spokesperson for Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, said that Ankara supports Iraq and is “closely following the critical water situation in the region,” which has been worsened by climate change.

He noted that rainfall in southeastern Anatolia has dropped by 60 percent compared with previous years, adding that “Turkey, including the capital, Ankara, is also facing similar water challenges as a result of global climate change.”

The Green Iraq Observatory warned in early September that Turkey’s dam network has drastically reduced Iraq’s water inflows, intensifying an already severe crisis. Turkey has built about 20 dams over four decades, holding roughly 80 billion cubic meters of water, eight times the capacity of Iraq’s Mosul Dam.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani in July said that Baghdad has signed a strategic agreement with Ankara on water management, which includes “the transfer of Turkey’s successful water management model to Iraq, particularly in dam and water plant projects.”