Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have reportedly reached an agreement on water quotas for this year’s vegetation season through Syr Darya and Amu Darya river basins.
According to Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Water Management, the 76th session of the Interstate Committee for Water Coordination (ICWC) of Central Asia took place in Tashkent on April 19.
The meeting participants included the Minister of Water Management of Uzbekistan Shavkat Khamrayev, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Yerlan Nisanbayev, the First Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan Sulton Rahimzoda and the head of the Water Use Department of the State Committee for Water Management of Turkmenistan Baygeldi Baizhonov.
Following the negotiations, the parties reportedly approved irrigation intake quotas and the operation mode reservoir cascades.
The session participants also discussed issues related to development of an action program to assist the countries of the Aral Sea basin.
The next 77th session of the Interstate Committee for Water Coordination is expected to take place in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, in the second half of September this year.
The ICWC was established in February 1992. The Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia (ICWC) was formed by the five Central Asian nations in the hopes of solving environmental as well as socio-economic problems in the Aral Sea region. River Basin Authorities (BWOs) “Syr Darya” and “Amu Darya” are executive bodies of ICWC. BWOs are in charge of planning and managing water flow schedules and water resources distribution, as well as direct implementation of the decisions made by ICWC relevant to water allocation, schedules of water flow and releases, water quality control.
