Amman - The Euro-Med ministerial conference on water, which has been postponed twice earlier this year, will now be held on Dead Sea shores between December
22-24, Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nassar Habashneh was quoted as saying on Friday.

"The new date was set in coordination between Jordan and the joint French-Egyptian presidency of the Union for the Mediterranean," Habashneh told the pro-government newspaper Jordan Times. "We are in the process of sending invitations to EU member states," he said.

The conference was originally slated to take place on October 28 at the Dead Sea resort, but the Jordanian government decided to postpone the event until a settlement was reached over the Arab League's participation and membership in the Union for the Mediterranean which was launched in Paris in July.

The issue was resolved recently at a meeting of the Barcelona Process member states at Marseilles.

A dispute also reportedly erupted over the Red-Dead Canal, a project under study by Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The canal, which is due to connect the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, is part of an international effort aimed at saving the Dead Sea, where water levels have been dropping at the rate of 1 metre per year, according to experts. (dpa)