DUSHANBE, July 19, 2008, Asia-Plus — There is no shallowness in northern Tajikistan and the current water level at the Sirdarya River is the same as before, Georgy Petrov of the Institute for Water, Hydropower and Ecology Studies within the Academy of Science, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
However, this region is experiencing an acute shortage of water for irrigation. According to Mr. Petrov, this problem has resulted from the fact that Kyrgyzstan has failed to come to an agreement with Uzbekistan and withholds water in the upper reach of the river, “withdrawing it from common flow.”
“Tajikistan is suffering from this because our negotiators participating in this process have failed to specify and argue the problem,” said the expert. “Therefore, it turned out that water is withdrawn not only from Uzbekistan but also from Tajikistan.
On the problem of use of cross-border rivers, Petrov said that as a matter of fact, “each country may use rivers as it wants, while on the other hand, it is impossible to develop anything without taking into consideration interests of neighbors.”
“The same things are taking place in the energy sector: Tajikistan has managed to come to an agreement on rendering services to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, paying extra energy,” Petrov said.
The problem of the cross-border rivers in Tajikistan is the problem of our professionalism and negotiating skills, the researcher said.
