Acknowledgements

The present paper overviews the outcomes of the workshop “Solar Thermal Application in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories and Syria - Technical Aspects, Framework Conditions and Private Sector Needs”, which was conducted at the end of March 2009 in Cairo. The workshop could be seen as a good example for regional cooperation as well as cooperation between three bilateral or regional programmes of German Development Cooperation (RECREE, Regional Promotion of Technology and Innovation for SME, Private Sector Development Programme Egypt). I would like to thank my colleagues Dr. Natalija El-Hage (PSDP Egypt) and Dr. Kilian Bälz (RECREEE) for their continuous support and good cooperation within the last months. In preparation of the workshop country studies for Syria, Jordan and Egypt have been carried out that analyze more deeply the situation of the solar water heaters industry in the respective countries.

The findings of these studies are incorporated into this paper. So graphs are taken from the results of the country studies if not cited otherwise.

I would like to thank in particular Mrs. Eng. Samar Jaber (formerly from National Energy Research Center in Jordan), Eng. Housam al-Sha’al from PLANET in Syria as well as Mr. Moataz Soliman from Alexandria University in Egypt for their contributions as well as my colleague Mr. Manfred Siebert from the Private Sector Development Programme in Egypt. In addition I thank Mrs. Amel Bida, currently assigned to RECREEE in Egypt, who wrote the country contribution about Tunisia, furthermore Mr. Basel Yaseen from Palestinian Energy & Environmental Research Center who contributed the section about the situation in the Palestinian Territories. Mr. Nader Hajj Shehadeh from the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation I would like to thank as well for his valuable and dedicated contribution about the Lebanese market. Last but not least I would like to thank Mrs. Khawla Konyna for compiling the different contributions into one paper.

Alexandra Hilbig