DUSHANBE, July 15, 2009, Asia-Plus — A roundtable meeting on management of water resources in Central Asia will be held in Ashgabat on July 16.
Organized by the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), the meeting is expected to bring together representatives of member nations of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), the IFAS Executive Committee, senior representatives of the UN agencies as well as regional and international organizations active in Central Asia, according to Ms. Bahargul Rahmanova, public information assistant, UNRCCA.
The event aims to discuss optimal ways of providing assistance to Central Asia’s states with implementation of decisions of the IFAS summit that took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan on April 28, 2009 as well as further steps to promote expansion of cooperation between Central Asia’s states in managing water resources of the region.
Established in December 2007, the UNRCAA is dedicated to help the region’s countries respond more proactively to cross-border challenges and threats before they can become costlier and more difficult to control. The Centre is tasked with assisting the governments of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in building capacities to peacefully prevent conflict, in facilitating dialogue, and in catalyzing international support behind projects and initiatives.
The UNRCAA Program of Action for 2009-2011, discussed at the meeting with the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Central Asia’s states in October 2008, contains inputs and suggestions provided by experts and senior officials from all the countries of the region. Among the priorities for Central Asia identified in the Program of Action, high importance is given to the resolution of the water/energy nexus and to the need of developing consensus on the package of solutions to resolve problems arising out of this delicate issue. There is a common understanding on the need for a strong regional regime of exploration and management of water and energy resources with proper consideration of interests of all Central Asian countries.
The UNRCCA is exploring various approaches to contribute to the resolution of this issue. The actions of the Regional Centre in this sphere aim at stimulating a productive exchange of ideas, reducing barriers to constructive dialogue and inspiring effective decisions that help resolving water and energy issues. The Center feels the need to establish in the region a clear and common understanding of the causes of the problem and of the processes that may be contributing to its resolution.
In this context the activities of the Center will focus primarily on facilitating contacts between country representatives, mediating and responding to the different exigencies and requests and providing platform for regular exchanges between all parties involved in discussions on various aspects of water and energy problems. This will help finding a negotiated solution acceptable to all the parties.
