DUSHANBE, November 26, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajik Ambassador to Belgium Rustamjon Soliyev has called on the Energy Charter Conference (ECC) and its members to participate in implementation of the Central Asia South Asia Regional Electricity Trade Project (CASA 1000).
According to the Tajik MFA information department, Tajik diplomat met with the ECC Chairman Selim Kuneralp on November 25.
In the course of the talks, Soliyev stressed the necessity of implementation of the CASA-100 project for the Central Asian region.
During the meeting, the sides also discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation and prospects of participation of ECC in implementation of the hydroelectricity projects in Tajikistan.
Mr. Soliyev noted that Tajikistan needed electric power to ensure economic and social development.
Lacking hydrocarbon energy resources, Tajikistan places its hopes for a domestic source of energy in hydropower and construction of small and medium-sized hydroelectric power plants and especially the Roghun hydroelectric power plant (HPP) meets national interests of the country and promotes economic development of not only Tajikistan but also other countries of the region, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, Soliyev said.
Tajik diplomat drew attention of the ECC head to the fact that small and medium-sized hydropower plants were not able to meet fully the country’s requirements in electricity.
Mr. Kuneralp, for his part, positively assessed expansion of bilateral cooperation and noted that ECC was ready to expand its bilateral cooperation with Tajikistan. He reportedly supported Tajikistan’s desire to use its domestic source of energy and added that it could not be ruled out that the ECC member nations would participate in implementation of the CASA-1000 project.
The objective of the CASA-1000 Project is to promote electricity exports from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Established by the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty, the Energy Charter Conference, an inter-governmental organization, is the governing and decision-making body for the Energy Charter process, and was.
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is an international agreement which provides a multilateral framework for energy trade, transit and investments. Originally, the Energy Charter process based on integrating the energy sectors of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War into the broader European and world markets.
The original Energy Charter declaration was signed in The Hague on December 17, 1991. It was a political declaration of principles for international energy including trade, transit and investment, together with the intention to negotiate a legally-binding treaty. The legally-binding treaty was signed in Lisbon in December 1994, together with a Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects (PEEREA). The treaty and the protocol came into effect in April 1998; an amendment to the trade-related provisions reflecting the change from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to World Trade Organization (WTO) processes was also agreed that month.
All states who have signed or acceded to the Treaty are members of the Conference, which meets on a regular basis to discuss issues affecting energy cooperation among the Treaty”s signatories, to review the implementation of the provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty and the Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects, and to consider possible new instruments and joint activities within the Energy Charter framework.
