DUSHANBE, October 2, 2009, Asia-Plus – Turkmenistan has called on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to pay Tajikistan joint subvention for solution of energy problem and in exchange for keeping the current volumes of discharge water in the trans-border rivers.
According to Russia’s news agency RIA Novosti, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov remarked this at a meeting with reporters in Ashgabat on Thursday.
Turkmen leader noted that Tajikistan, on the territory of which the main drinking sources of the Central Asian originate, now experiences an acute shortage of electricity and sees solution of this problem in construction of new hydropower plants. This, in turn, may decrease the volumes of discharge water and lead to acute water shortages in the downstream countries. The problem is so acute that quite often it is the source of tension in relations between the countries of the region.
In this connection, Turkmenistan has called on Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to jointly seek solution to the problem. If the sides arrive at a solution Tajikistan will receive a joint subvention from neighbors for solving its energy problems and the interested countries of the region will receive enough volumes of drinking and irrigation water.
