GCC countries have the highest water desalination capacity of 81 per cent in the world while running production of around 40 per cent of total global water desalination," said a top official of Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa).

"This explains, on one hand, the development of 289 desalination plants on the shores of the Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea," remarked Dr Engineer Rashid Al Leem, the chairman of Sewa.

He was addressing the gathering at the inaugural edition of the Mena Desalination Projects Conference which kicked off in Abu Dhabi.

The two-day event is being held under the theme "Evaluating Innovations in Desalination for Current & Future Projects," at Jumeirah at Etihad Towers in the UAE capital as a milestone event in water desalination field, especially with billions of dollars’ worth projects that aim to adopt the latest environment-friendly desalination methods.

More than 300 experts from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) desalination sector along with leading companies from 40 countries across the globe are taking part in the event.-TradeArabia News Service