DUSHANBE, January 31, 2013, Asia-Plus — Specialists from the Helmholtz Center Potsdam GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, commonly called GFZ, have denied report released by the Uzbek MFA news agency, Jahon, as unfounded. They say they have not made any statement regarding hydroelectricity projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
On December 24 and January 14, the Jahon News Agency posted reports on a roundtable hosted by GFZ.
According to GFZ, the reports do not correspondent to the facts. The center says issues related to German-Tajik cooperation within the framework of the EMCA (The Earthquake Model Central Asia) and CAWA (Central Asian Water) projects and implementation of those projects in Uzbekistan were a major topic of the roundtable.
German specialists have expressed regret that the article was published without the preliminary consultations with them.
They, in particular, noted that “hydropower facilities are not in the sphere of activity of GFZ and its experts have not made any statements regarding hydroelectricity projects in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.” According to them, the article misleads readers about GFZ’s activities in the region and added that “unfortunately some Central Asian news agencies have reprinted the article without additional checkup of its content.”
The Helmholtz Center Potsdam GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, commonly called GFZ is the national research center for Earth Sciences in Germany, located in Potsdam, in the German federal state of Brandenburg, and is part of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers.
