DUSHANBE, October 17, 2008, Asia-Plus — Addressing the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in Astana, Kazakhstan yesterday, Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi noted that financial crisis the world was now faced with was unprecedented, according to the Tajik MFA.
“The experience shows that it is necessary to take concerted efforts to find ways to bring the situation back to normal with further minimization of effects of the financial crisis, which is accompanied by energy and food crises,” said the Tajik minister, “Having fertile lands and being rich in water-and-energy resources, Tajikistan is ready to make its contribution to solution of this problem. As country rich in water-and-energy resources, we offer establishment continental cooperation based of the exiting potentials that will allow tackling many problems.”
Touching upon construction of new hydropower plants in Tajikistan, Zarifi noted that Tajikistan has reserves of water and power resources in the amount of 527billion kWh per annum. At present the country is using only some 5 percent of these reserves.
“Domestic rivers in Tajikistan, in particular, have some 15 perspective sites for construction of dams and hydropower plants. Implementation of capital-intensive hydroelectricity projects would allow providing with electrical power not only the Central Asian region but also countries in East and South Asia through construction of power grids,” said Zarifi, “I would like to stress that no one of Tajikistan’s hydropower development support projects hurts interests of our neighbors in the region.”
Foreign ministers from 30 Asian countries attended the ACD meeting that considered a broad range of issues related to energy, food security, finance, and development of the information technologies, the Tajik MFA said.
Inaugurated in Thailand in June 2002, the ACD aims to constitute the missing link in Asia by incorporating every Asian country and building an Asian Community without duplicating other organizations or creating a bloc against others. A key principle is to consolidate Asian strengths and fortify Asia”s competitiveness by maximizing the diversity and rich resources evident in Asia. Currently, the ACD comprises 30 countries: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan admitted at the Fifth ACD Ministerial Meeting in Doha, Qatar in May 2006.
