DUSHANBE, October 9, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- An international two-day conference, entitled “Improvement of Water Management for Sustainable Development of Central Asia,” opened in Dushanbe today.  

According to the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving Aral Sea (ISAF), the conference is discussing issues related to enhancement of management of water resources in the Central Asian region.    

The conference participants include representatives of Central Asia’s states, international and non-governmental organizations, as well as a number of diplomatic missions accredited in Tajikistan. 

“The conference, staged by IFAS with support of the OSCE office in Tajikistan, is expected to result in adoption of a water doctrine for Central Asia that was worked out by the IFAS Executive Committee in Dushanbe,” the source said.  

According to press release issued by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, more than 80 participants, including representatives of Central Asian countries and Afghanistan, will discuss national views on regional water management as well as a policy paper on water management in Central Asia, drafted by IFAS as part of an OSCE project on "Water Management Improvement for Sustainable Development in Central Asia."

"We believe that the presence of leading experts from Central Asia and Afghanistan provides a solid platform to discuss and solve pressing water problems in the region," said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, the Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.

"It is important that the conference is focusing on the discussion of the first draft of the policy paper developed by the IFAS with the support of OSCE," said Kamol Nouraliyev, Tajikistan''s Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Land Reclamation. "It is the first step, but very important. I hope in the future the paper will be pushed forward on the regional level."

On the basis of the conference recommendations, a background document will be compiled for a regional water management conference in 2009 that is intended to serve as an impetus for the development of appropriate tools for water management in Central Asia.