AMMAN, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Jordanian and Syrian officials on Wednesday held talks in Amman to enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy and water.

Jordan's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh and Minister of Water and Irrigation Raed Abul Saud met with Mohammad al-Bashir, chief of Syria's energy authorities, to discuss joint infrastructure projects, regional integration and sustainable development.

The two sides explored increasing the volume of natural gas exports to Syria, in cooperation with Qatar and Egypt, to support electricity generation in the war-torn country.

Jordan has been supplying Syria with Qatari natural gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline since March.

Talks also covered raising the electricity interconnection capacity from 250 to 300 megawatts, and enhancing cooperation in petroleum logistics and electricity distribution.

On the water front, Abul Saud announced a joint technical committee meeting on July 8 to review the 2005 Yarmouk River agreement and Jordan's proposed amendments.

He also welcomed Syrian measures to curb illegal well drilling in Daraa, which had previously impacted Jordan's water reserves.

Jordan and Syria signed their first water-sharing agreement in 1953, amended in 1987 to include the Wahdah Dam project. Jordan funded the dam, but water flow has often fallen short of expectations, a situation Jordan attributes in part to additional dam construction and well drilling upstream in Syria. Enditem