DUSHANBE, May 25, 2009, Asia-Plus — A quadripartite meeting of foreign ministers of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan was held in the Syrian capital Damascus on May 24 on the sidelines of the 36th session of the council of foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states, according to the Tajik MFA information department.
Delegation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and representative of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) also attended the meeting.
The meeting, held at the suggestion of Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi, discussed multilateral cooperation in the region as well as regional and international issues being of mutual interest. They, in particular, considered issues related to the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA 1000) that was currently being implemented in the region under support of the World Bank. A program aims to create a regional electricity market by facilitating electricity trade between the energy-resource rich countries of Central Asia, and the energy-deficit countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia and the planned CASA 1000 project will link Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to South Asia.
Heads of the delegations seconded a joint statement issued by President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan on May 8, in which the presidents pledge their support for a proposed US$680 million regional electricity transmission project that would supply summer surplus power from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the Afghan capital of Kabul and the north west of Pakistan, according to press release issued by the World Bank.
We will recall that the joint statement on the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA 1000) was issued after a meeting in Washington DC with World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick. This is the first phase of a program to create a regional electricity market by facilitating electricity trade between the energy-resource rich countries of Central Asia, and the energy-deficit countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia. A transmission link from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan was opened recently, and the planned CASA 1000 project will link Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to South Asia.
The sides also expressed gratitude to the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank for supporting the CASA 1000 project.
They also pointed out an importance of Tajik president’s initiatives on rational use of water and energy resources in the region. The ministers also supported other bilateral and multilateral regional agreements and projects for cooperation in the field of energy, including an idea of connection of power systems of the ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) member states and spoke for speedy implementation of that project, the MFA information department said.
In the meantime, welcoming the intention of implementation of the CASA 100 project, the UAE delegation expressed its country’s interest in hosting headquarters of the of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi and allocating 50 million U.S. dollars per year to finance working the renewable energy projects, conducting feasibility studies for of them and implementation of them.
