DUSHANBE, April 18, 2011, Asia-Plus – International Summit on Water in Developing Countries 2011 took place at the National Press Club of the United States in Washington on April 15.
The conference, which a joint project of the Rotary Club of Washington, DC and Rotary Club Paris Academics, brought together Ambassadors from more than 50 countries to discuss their nation’s needs before representatives from the World Bank, National governments, International NGOs and global businesses.
According to the Tajik Embassy in Washington, the Summit topics included assessing progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); current state of water development in developing countries; key issues and lessons learned; imperatives for future programming and sustainability; role of community-designed, community-implemented solutions; and new international partnerships.
In his statement delivered at the summit, Tajik Ambassador to the United States Abdujabbor Shirinov focused on our country’s water initiatives in the United Nations, hydroelectric projects in Tajikistan, and negative impact of irrigation systems in the countries of the region on the Aral Sea.
He in particular, noted that more than 60 percent of Central Asia’s water supply originates in Tajikistan; at present the country is using only 10 percent of it, while the remainder flows to the downstream countries and is used by them mainly for irrigating lands.
“Despite Tajikistan’s huge reserves of water and power resources, more than 70 percent of the country’s population is continuing to experience acute power shortages, especially during the winter period, Shirinov noted.
“Unlike the downstream countries (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are lacking substantial energy resources (oil and natural gas), and therefore, hydropower engineering is the main resource for development of their economies,” Tajik Ambassador noted.
In his opinion, Tajikistan should implement vitally important projects on use of its water and energy resources in order to overcome the energy crisis.
“Considering appearance of political tense in the region, we consider that mutual reproaches will not promote settlement of the problem and constructive dialogue is needed for settlement of Central Asia’s water problem,” Tajik Ambassador stressed.
