DUSHANBE, April 1, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi delivered a statement at a session of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on March 31.
According the Tajik MFA information department, in his address, Zarifi reconfirmed Tajikistan’s commitments to its OSCE obligations in all dimensions of security, stressed the need for active international involvement in economic rehabilitation of Afghanistan, and the importance of promoting political dialogue in Central Asia to overcome differences on water and energy.
Zarifi emphasized Tajikistan’s commitment to further strengthening the OSCE through its evolution “as a fully-fledged international organization with a legal personality” and to ensure a balanced development of all three security dimensions.
Tajik minister, in particular, discussed the human dimension emphasizing the Tajikistan’s commitments in the fields of democratization, human rights and fundamental freedoms, the rule of law and the development of civil society. He stressed that problems surrounding basic human rights, including religious freedoms and freedom of the media, must be examined in a balanced manner, taking into consideration the interests of ensuring security and stability in society. “Freedom of the media and freedom of speech should not contravene the law or run against the ethical and professional standards of journalism,” Zarifi said.
Touching upon issues of threats and challenges to the OSCE region’s security, he noted that security in Central Asia was inextricably linked with the situation in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is our neighbor ad partner, with which Tajikistan shares more than 1,400 kilometers of extremely intricate border,” Zarifi said. He mentioned bilateral practical assistance provided to Afghanistan, including the construction of high-voltage power lines, training of civilian and military personnel, and the construction of railways, highways and bridges linking the two countries.
“It is impossible to ensure stability in Afghanistan through military means alone,” said the minister, “The OSCE participating States must understand that the formula for resolving the situation in Afghanistan can consist not only of military action, but also of the active involvement of international economic and financial mechanisms and institutions with a view to rehabilitating the country.”
Zarifi praised the OSCE’s support for Tajikistan, in particular, efforts to help strengthen the country’s southern borders, including through the activities of the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe, and asked for OSCE assistance in strengthening capacity for countering the threats of drug-related crime from Afghanistan.
On the environmental and water-and-energy problems in Central Asia, Zarifi said that those problems were economic issues as a matter of fact but they were extremely politicized. “These problems are seriously hampering the development of regional cooperation,” said the minister, “Over the past years, the Aral Sea catastrophe has caused tremendous damage to the environment, the economic and
social life of the countries located in basins of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. The main reasons for this are an extensive extension of irrigated areas during the Soviet time, unrestrained rush for momentary economic profit from cotton production, use of obsolete irrigation methods and construction of huge water-storage reservoirs in the lower reaches of the trans-boundary rivers that led to increase in anthropogenic load on flows of the trans-boundary rivers and water deficiency, and as a result to drying of the Aral Sea.”
“We see a key role for the OSCE in promoting political dialogue in Central Asia with a view to overcoming differences of opinion on an entire range of problems concerned with water and energy, the creation of an integrated water resource management system and assistance to the countries of the region in achieving a long-term solution for this problem through compromises,” he said, suggesting that the experience already gained by European countries through cooperation in the Danube River basin could be used.
