Uzbek Leader Calls for Coordinating Water Projects in Central Asia

Central Asian countries located at the lower reaches of the rivers Syr Darya and Amu Darya should not suffer a reduction in water supplies if a decision is made to construct a hydropower station at the upper reaches of the rivers, Uzbek President Islom Karimov said at a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on 22 April.

In his remarks featured by Uzbek TV’s special programme on Karimov’s visit to Kazakhstan on 23 April, Karimov said: “We are talking about supplying water resources to Kazakhstan’s south in the first place and overall to Uzbekistan’s territory. We would like to say that we need to carry out a coordinated policy, aimed at preventing further deterioration in supply of water from the transborder rivers Syr Darya and Amu Darya to our territories. If we fail to agree on these issues, this perspective may further aggravate the already tragic situation with drying Aral [Sea],” the Uzbek president said.

“The World Bank approached us saying they would like to pay a visit to have consultations. We gave them a clear answer: ‘If you want to develop a feasibility study on constructing the Roghun hydropower station [in Tajikistan], then bear in mind that before you develop the feasibility study, which [the project] costs about 300m dollars, be so kind to conduct an independent analysis. And guarantee us – us, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan – that there will be no reduction in the water inflow and there will be no adverse impact on the environment.’ That is all,” he said.

The TV report also provided key results of Karimov’s visit to Astana and showed Kazakh and Uzbek presidents speaking on various issues of bilateral cooperation at one-to-one and extended meetings as well as at a press conference on 22 April.

(The programme lasted for about 30 minutes; no further processing is planned as other key points of the visit have already been covered)

Originally published by Uzbek Television First Channel, Tashkent, in Uzbek 1500 23 Apr 08.

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