The second meeting of the ASBP-4 Regional Working Groups is held in Ashgabat

On July 30-31, 2019, under the chairmanship of Turkmenistan in the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, the second meeting of the Regional Working Groups on the development of the “Action Program for Assisting the Aral Sea Basin Countries (ASBP-4)” and “Improving the institutional and legal mechanisms of IFAS” is being held in Ashgabat.

The meeting was organized by the Executive Committee of IFAS with the support of the Regional Program “Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia” of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the European Union project “Nexus Dialogue in Central Asia”, implemented jointly with the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC), “Water, Education and Cooperation” (“Smart Waters Project”) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the OSCE Center in Ashgabat.

Representatives of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Executive Committee of IFAS, the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (ICWC), the Interstate Commission for Sustainable Development (ICSD), as well as GIZ and CAREC take part in the meeting of the Regional Working Groups.

The agenda of the two-day Ashgabat meeting includes discussion and coordination of project proposals relating to the development and formation of ASBP-4 in each of the four areas, including the  improvement of the organizational structure and legal framework of IFAS. All of them are based on national consultations held in the founding countries of the Fund.

The agenda includes a discussion of proposals for improving the institutional structure and legal framework of IFAS, as well as the issue of joining the Framework Convention on Environmental Protection for Sustainable Development in Central Asia. Following the meeting, steps for further interaction will be agreed and appropriate decisions will be taken.

The participants of this meeting highly appreciated the constructive political strategy of the President of Turkmenistan, under whose leadership our country makes a significant contribution to building up fruitful international cooperation in the context of developing mutually agreed and balanced solutions to the priority tasks related to this issue.