"They will examine the practical steps needed to launch the feasibility study for the project," a year after agreeing to go ahead with the study, Zohbi said.

Environmental experts have repeatedly warned that the Dead Sea is in danger of drying up as Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians divert the waters of the Jordan River, which feeds it, for agriculture.

The level of the Dead Sea, the world's lowest and most saline body of water, has dropped by a third since the 1960s and continues to fall by about a meter (more than three foot) a year.

The two-year study will cost about 15.5 million dollars, Zohbi said, while the overall cost of the project is estimated at three billion dollars.

The feasibility study will investigate the social and environmental impact of conveying large quantities of water through a 200-kilometer (130-mile) conduit between the two seas.

The World Bank will manage a fund to finance the project.

The project, if proven feasible, involves the building of a small canal on the Red Sea between Jordan and Israel and then pumping water to the Dead Sea through a 180-kilometer (120-mile) pipe or several pipes.

Water from the Red Sea would be pumped to a power station and a desalination plant in Jordan and the project would take about five years to build, Jordanian official have said.

The idea for the project has been around for years, but stalled amid tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

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