DUSHANBE, November 19, 2008, Asia-Plus — Uzbekistan is returning its energy debt to Tajikistan, according to Barqi Tojik (Tajik electric systems) power holding.
“Uzbekistan has owed some 100 million kWh in arrears to Tajikistan since autumn-winter 2007-2008,” the Barqi Tojik source said, noting that the Uzbek side has retuned some 60 percent of its energy debt so far.
It is to be noted that under the bilateral agreement between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the last supplies 600 million kWh of electrical power to Tajikistan during the autumn-winter period in exchange for 900 million kWh of electricity received from Tajikistan in summer.
“In May, we gave up Uzbek electricity supplies and in June, we began supplying electricity to Uzbekistan ourselves,” said the source. “Tajikistan now receives Uzbek electrical power at the rate of some 1-2 million kWh per day.”
A new contract on electricity supplies will be singed at the next meeting of the Tajik-Uzbek intergovernmental commission that is scheduled to be held before the end of the year.
Besides, Tajikistan currently also receives electricity from Turkmenistan at the rate of some 8 million kWh per day. Tajik hydroelectric power plants generate some 40 million kWh of electricity per day.
In the meantime, the conference, entitled “Water Unites – Strengthening Regional Cooperation on Water Management in Central Asia” was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on November 17-18. Organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Government of Germany, the Executive Committee for the International Fund for the Saving of the Aral Sea (EC-IFAS) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the conference was a follow-up to the Berlin Conference “Water Unites” on April 1, 2008, where the “Berlin Water Initiative” was launched. The main objective of the Almaty conference was to assess short- and long-term challenges in the field of cooperative water management in Central Asia, in order to generate more coherent, efficient and better targeted action to address these challenges. High-level representatives of the countries of the region, the UN, the European Union, regional organizations and other members of the international development community attended the conference.
