DECREE ISSUED BY THE PRESIDENT OF TURKMENISTAN
ON REWARDING T. ALTIYEV WITH ORDER “ALTYN ASYR” OF THE III DEGREE
For his special services to the independent neutral Turkmen State and its people, long selfless and conscientious work in the water management system, contribution to the development of agriculture and water sector in the country, achievements in the work, active participation in the preparation of young specialists for the Golden Age and on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of his birth, reward Tekebay Altiyev with order “Altyn Asyr” of the III degree.
President of Turkmenistan
Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov
Ashgabat, 6 Novruz 2007
ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES OF THE “IWRM-FERGANA” PROJECT
A meeting of the “IWRM-Fergana” Project Steering Committee was held on 1 March 2007 in Fergana city under the chairmanship of Hanspeter Maag, Director of the Regional Office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The following issues were considered:
- Approval of the report on project activities and outcomes for 2006
- Approval of the project action plan for 2007-2008
- Approval of the project budget for 2007-2008
- Others.
Based on the results of the discussion on project activity outcomes for 2006 conducted at the annual meeting on 28 February 2007, the members of the Project Steering Committee approved the report on project activities for 2006.
The participants of the meeting approved the submitted project work plan for the period from January 2007 to April 2008.
The decision made by the Field College of the Water Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Processing Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic (22 February 2007) on including the Right-bank canal in the project area together with IWRM experience dissemination throughout Osh province was taken into account. Activities for IWRM practice dissemination will be organized in the command area of the Syrdarya-Sokh Basin Administration of Irrigation Systems (Uzbekistan) and command area of the Khojabakirgan canal (Tajikistan).
The participants of the Project Steering Committee decided to include a new component “Small Transboundary Rivers” in the project area. The activity under this component will be focused on two pilot basins, Shakhimardan and Khodjabakirgan. The work efforts under the component include analysis of situation, creation of a database, preparation of a draft Regulation on Basin Commissions, a number of other draft bilateral agreements and frameworks to implement IWRM principles in small river basins.
The participants approved the general project budget for the period from January 2007 to April 2008.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
A book titled “From Historical Water Dividing Bridges on Zarafshan River to IWRM” was published with the support of the Global Water Partnership for Caucasus and Central Asia (GWP CACENA).
The book contains original thoughts of Abrar Kadyrov, well-known scientist-hydraulic engineer of Uzbekistan, on the past, present and future in the field of water resources management in Central Asia.
The materials in the book are of interest to a wide range of specialists in water resources.
OFFICIAL START OF PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES FOR THE 5th WORLD WATER FORUM
At the meeting of the Board of Governors of the World Water Council (WWC) in Stockholm, August 2006, it was decided to hold the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul in March 2009. The President of WWC and Director General of the State Water Directorate of Turkey signed an agreement stipulating official start of preparatory activities for the Forum from March 2007.
According to that, a set of measures was organized such as Kick-off Stakeholder Meeting, Meeting of the WWC Board of Governors (Istanbul, 19-20 March) and International Congress “River Basin Management” (Antalya, 21-24 March). Central Asia was represented by member of the WWC Board of Governors, Director SIC ICWC Prof. V.A. Dukhovny and a delegation from Tajikistan headed by Deputy Minister of Reclamation and Water Resources A.Ì. Zairov.
Representatives from various NGOs, international organizations of the UN system, mass media, some of water and environmental agencies – altogether more than 300 people – were invited to participate in the kick-off meeting. The aim of this event is to inform the world community about the beginning of the preparatory activities for the 5th WWF that is laid on leading information agencies such as CNN, BBC, EuroNews, TNT, and also organize gathering of opinions that the world community is expecting from the next megaforum.
The program part of the future forum will be, as before, organized by regional and thematic features. The thematic orientation should be determined based on discussion with stakeholder groups.
International Congress “River Basin Management” brought together a great number of participants from around the world – about 800 people. During the ceremonial opening of the Congress conducted by the Prime Minister, he and the Direction of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources presented awards to prominent leaders of water management organizations as well as to mayors and governors, who successfully handled program for water supply or water purification. The presentation of awards to representatives of the younger generation – a student of a technical university for best scientific work on water resources and a schoolgirl for her symbolic picture showing water drops from a tap forming five spheres of life such water supply for human needs, irrigation, hydropower generation, fish industry and the environment – was sufficiently symbolic.
The Congress was held within the framework of two plenary and 13 sectional sessions, at which altogether 60 papers including 34 foreign ones were listened. The Congress consisted of 4 sections: River basin management, Flood management, River basin protection and River basin practice. Moreover, Turkish colleagues made 12 presentations at a special poster session.
Central Asia was represented by the papers of Nurlan Mamatov from Kyrgyzstan “Impact of water resources upon socio-economic indicators of Central Asia”, Yusup Rysbekov “Concerning the unification of water legislations of Central Asian states”, Gabriel Regallet and Vadim Sokolov “Key role of water users in IWRM in Fergana Valley”, Bakhit Raimkanov and Matraim Yusupov “Water problems in Kyrgyzstan”.
This event was seen by the hosts as a rehearsal towards the World Water Forum and a demonstration of achievements made by Turkish water specialists. It should be noted that the congress fulfilled this task, showing high degree of organizational and technical work. All measures were carried out in well-equipped accommodations, provided simultaneous translation into three languages with great activity of the participants and high representation of governing bodies in the country.
Prof. V.A. Dukhovny,
Director SIC ICWC
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