DUSHANBE, March 29, 2013, Asia-Plus — Member States of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) came together at the 8th session of the UNECE Working Party on Land Administration (WPLA) on March 18 in Bishkek to decide on the next steps in the cooperation between land administration and cadastre agencies in the UNECE region, UNECE Weekly, No 522, March 25-29, 2013, reports.
Hosted by the Government of Kyrgyzstan, the session was also attended by partner organizations of the Working Party, including the World Bank, EuroGeographics, the European Land Information Service and the International Federation of Surveyors.
The session was followed by a two-day workshop entitled “Land Administration in Central Asia: Building Systems for 21st Century Challenges”. This event was also hosted by the Government, in cooperation with the Working Party and the World Bank.
The workshop focused on the challenges and opportunities related to land management in the countries of Central Asia. This was the first time that land administration experts of all five Central Asian countries came together to exchange experience and practices in land administration with leading European experts. The participants emphasized the importance of organizing such regular events for specialists from Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia to meet.
In closing the workshop, the Head of Department of Cadaster and Registration of Kyrgyzstan, Narynbek Isabekov, said that although the workshop had clearly demonstrated that Central Asian countries had made achievements in developing their land administration systems, “many challenges remain in building national capacities for land administration. To address these challenges, international cooperation needs to be strengthened”.
The thematic workshops, which the Working Party holds at least twice a year, in cooperation with its partners, offer an effective platform for regularly exchanging experience and best practices in land administration. The next such workshop, on e-governance, entitled “Collaborating for Secured Ownership”, will take place in Uppsala, Sweden, from May 29-31 and is being hosted in cooperation with the Swedish Mapping, Cadastre and Land Registry Agency.
