EVENTS DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING WATER COOPERATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
A series of events was organized by the IFAS Executive Committee in cooperation with partner organizations on September 20-22, 2022 in Tashkent. Director D. R. Ziganshina took part in the events on behalf of SIC ICWC.
Coordination Meeting of the IFAS Executive Committee with International Development Partners
The third Coordination Meeting of the IFAS Executive Committee with international development partners was held on 20 September 2022.
The progress made in implementation of the Aral Sea Basin Program (ASBP-4) and in institutional and legal improvement of IFAS was reviewed during the meeting. The 2023 work plan on cooperation with international development partners in addressing water and environmental issues and further development of regional cooperation under umbrella IFAS, taking into account the extension of the Tajikistan’s chairmanship, were also discussed.
ASBP-4 was approved on 29 June 2021 by the Decision of IFAS Board and its implementation was assigned to the IFAS Executive Committee together with ICWC and ICSD. ASBP-4 includes a number of projects, also investment ones, to contribute to achievement of water, environmental, food and energy security in Central Asia. The program also is aimed at implementation of joint actions and prospective programs to overcome the Aral Sea crisis and strengthen regional cooperation through targeted actions at national, regional and international levels.
The Coordination Meeting was organized with the support of the World Bank’s CAWEP Program. Representatives of Central Asian governments, intergovernmental organizations, international financing institutions and others participated in this meeting.
As a result of the meeting, participants once again expressed their commitment to support implementation of ASBP-4 and underlined the importance of the IFAS Executive Committee's coordination platform, which facilitated information exchange and coordination between development partners and Central Asian governments in implementation and monitoring of projects and programs in the region.
Regional Workshop “Central Asia towards the UN 2023 Water Conference”
The regional workshop “Central Asia towards the UN 2023 Water Conference” was held on 20 September 2022. The UN Conference is to take place in New-York in 2023 under the co-chairmanship of Tajikistan and the Netherlands.
The workshop was organized by the IFAS Executive Committee with the financial support from the CAWEP program of the World Bank, USAID and GIZ.
The main objective of the workshop was to demonstrate cooperation and cohesion of Central Asian countries in making commitments to new actions for solving water challenges.
The workshop was to familiarize the participants with the goals, objectives and principles of the UN 2023 Water Conference, discuss the vision of the Central Asian countries on the topics of the Interactive Dialogues and possible voluntary commitments of the region’s countries and development partners for inclusion in the Water Action Agenda of the UN Water Conference.
The outcomes of the Regional Water Cooperation Forum in Central Asia, which was held during the 2nd Dushanbe Water Decade Conference (June 6-9, 2022), as well as draft initiatives, commitments and key messages contained in the Joint Statement of the Central Asia Region for the UN 2023 Water Conference were also discussed during the workshop. The region’s countries and development partners also made their suggestions on voluntary commitments to be included in the Joint Statement.
Representatives of Central Asian governments, intergovernmental organizations, international financing institutions, other concerned international agencies, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, academia, scientific community, private sector, etc. took part in the workshop.
8th meeting of the Working Group on Institutional and Legal Improvement of IFAS
The 8th meeting of the Working Group on institutional and legal improvement of IFAS was held on 21-22 September 2022.
Members of the Working Group from the IFAS founder-states, representatives of the Executive Committee and its branches, and ICWC and ICSD organizations took part in the meeting.
Institutional and legal improvement of IFAS is carried out with the purpose of establishing the effective and sustainable institutional mechanism which is capable to respond to new challenges and solve existing environmental and socio-economic problems and integrated water use and protection issues in the region.
On the first day, the summary of Agreements on stage 1 of institutional and legal improvement and the report on stage 2, as well as options of the improved institutional framework of IFAS were presented and discussed.
On the second day, mandates of the improved IFAS bodies and the review of institutional framework options in connection with the improved mandates of IFAS bodies were discussed.
As a result of the meeting, the final document of the 8th meeting of the Working Group was agreed.
Source: Executive Committee IFAS
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