DUSHANBE, May 13, 2009, Asia-Plus — Visiting Minister of Environment and Water for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad yesterday met here with Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi.
According to the MFA information department, the two discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the UAE in different fields.
Zarifi, in particular, called on the UAE to participate in implementation of hydroelectricity projects being of regional significance and construction of small hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) in Tajikistan.
Tajik minister noted that the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA 1000) 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.
For his part, Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad supported Tajikistan’s initiative on use of water-and-energy resources in the region and noted that his country expressed that position during the World Water Summit in Turkey last March, the MFA information department said.
