Rational and targeted use of water and energy resources was called as one of the main directions of cooperation between the Central Asian nations.
Speaking at a meeting of Central Asia’s leaders in the Kazakh capital, Astana, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon noted yesterday that he has repeatedly stated that Tajikistan has never created and will never create water-use-related problems to its neighbors. “Today, I want to stress once again that we will never leave our neighbors without water,” Tajik leader said.
Emomali Rahmon pointed to necessity of removing all obstacles impeding free movement of citizens, mutual trade, manpower and investments, according to the Tajik president’s official website.
The meeting participants reportedly discussed issues related to regional cooperation on all directions.
They, in particular, noted that Central Asia is rich in natural, transport-and-communication and human recourses that should be used for the benefit of the residents of the regions
The sides reportedly also spoke for intensification of the joint fight against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, transnational crime and religious radicalism.
Yesterday’s meeting was the first regional summit in almost a decade. Before that the leaders of the five Central Asian nations have held informal meetings and have met within the frameworks of the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), etc.
Thus, an informal summit of Central Asian leaders took place in the Kazakh capital on September 2, 2006. The informal meeting brought together the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan for talks to discuss economic and other issues. One of the most important topics on the meeting’s agenda was the creation of an international consortium to manage the region's water resources.
