On September 20, 2022, a regional seminar entitled ” Central Asia towards the UN 2023 Water Conference” was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which will be held in March 2023 under the co-chairmanship of Tajikistan and the Netherlands in New York.
The workshop was organized by the Executive Committee of IFAS with financial support from USAID and GIZ, as well as from the Central Asia Water and Energy Program (#CAWEP), administered by the World Bank and financed by the European Union, Switzerland (through SECO) and the United Kingdom (through DFID).
The main purpose of this Seminar was to demonstrate cooperation and cohesion of the Central Asian countries in making commitments for new actions to solve water problems.
The seminar was aimed at familiarizing participants with the goals, objectives and principles of the UN Water Conference 2023, discussing the vision of the Central Asian countries on the topics of Interactive Dialogues, as well as possible voluntary commitments of the countries of the region and development partners for inclusion in the UN Water Action Agenda.
The Seminar also discussed the results of the Regional Forum on Water Cooperation in Central Asia, which took place within the framework of the 2nd Dushanbe Conference on the Water Decade from 6 to 9 June 2022, as well as draft initiatives, commitments and key messages contained in the Joint Statement of the Central Asian Region for the UN Water Conference 2023.
During the seminar, proposals were received from the countries of the region and development partners on voluntary commitments for inclusion in the Joint Statement of Central Asia and Development Partners. The seminar was attended by representatives of the Governments of Central Asian countries, including Mr. Juma Daler Shofakir, Minister of Energy and Water Resources of the Republic of Tajikistan, Mr. Shavkat Khamraev, Minister of Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mr. Serikali Mukatayev, Vice Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr.N. PASHSHYEV YANOV, Head of the Water Use Department of the State Committee of Water Management of Turkmenistan, Mr. Dzhaylobaev Abdibay Shakirbaevich, Deputy Director of the Water Resources Service under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as Mr. André Carstens, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of Kazakhstan, representatives of intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, other interested international bodies, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions, the scientific community, the private sector, etc.
