DUSHANBE, November 23, 2014, Asia-Plus — A session of the CIS Council of Heads of Government that took place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on November 21 has reportedly endorsed the Interstate Targeted Program of Recultivation of Territories of the Nations Affected by Uranium-Mining.
According to the CIS Executive Committee, the session participants discussed some twenty issues related to cooperation between the CIS nations in various areas, including the Interstate Targeted Program of Recultivation of Territories of the Nations Affected by Uranium-Mining Industries and the CIS Concept of Nuclear and Radiation Safety.
The Interstate Targeted Program of Recultivation of Territories of the Nations Affected by Uranium-Mining Industries provides for implementing a pilot project on recultivating two objects in Kyrgyzstan (Kaji-Say and Min-Kush) and one in Tajikistan (Taboshar) that pose potential transboundary environmental threat to the Central Asian region.
Taboshar (current Istiqlol) is a city in the Tajik northern Sughd province. It is a city of provincial subordination, administratively subordinated to the provincial capital of Khujand.
Uranium was extracted in Tajikistan during the Soviet era, but this industry has now diminished. At its peak, the industry reportedly produced approximately 170 tons of waste rock annually. The State Enterprise Vostokredmet (Eastern Combine for Rare Metals) has estimated that Tajikistan still has some 55 tons of uranium reserves remaining. Vostokredmet was established in 1945 in Leninabad (now Khujand) for processing uranium ore from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the period of its operation, some 35,000 cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste was reportedly accumulated on its territory.
The second Environmental Performance Review (EPR) of Tajikistan, conducted by the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), notes approximately 54.8 million tons of waste from past uranium mining operations are still located in unsecured sites in northern Tajikistan, a number of them close to Khujand, the country”s second-largest city. The largest single dump site, containing some 12 million tons of radioactive waste, is in the town of Taboshar, north of Khujand.
The waste is stored in 9 tailing dumps with a total area of 1.7 km2 and 21 dumps of unyielding ores with a total area of about 225,000 m2 in the mining and processing enterprises.
The session participants reportedly also discussed the progress of implementation of the CIS free trade agreement (FTA) that was signed by Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan on October 18, 2011 and came into force for Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine; Tajikistan has not yet ratified the agreement. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan joined the FTA on May 31 last year.
The CIS FTA provides for free movement of goods within the territory of the CIS, non-application of import customs duties, non-discrimination, gradual decrease of export customs duties and abolishment of quantitative restrictions in mutual trade between the CIS FTA member states.
The CIS heads of government will also discuss the results of work carried out by the CIS Intergovernmental Council for Exploration, Usage and Preservation of Mineral Resources in 2011-2013 as well as competition and pricing in oil and oil product markets.
The CIS Council of Heads of Government was established on December 21, 1991. The council is the second major body in the CIS after the CIS Council of Heads of State, and consists of the prime ministers of all member states. The council coordinates the CIS member states” cooperation in economic, social and other areas of their common interests, and adopts corresponding decisions through consensus. The CIS Council of Heads of Government convenes twice a year, normally in winter and autumn. Extraordinary meetings are summoned on the initiative of the government of a member state.
Established on December 8, 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization. It now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.
