On May 7-9, CAREC held a series of meetings with national partners in Turkmenistan. Meetings were held in Ashgabat with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, the Ministry of Agriculture and Nature Protection of Turkmenistan, the State Committee for Water Management, and the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. The national partners met with the newly elected Executive Director of CAREC Makhmudov Zafar Khakimovich and discussed future perspectives for cooperation.
The International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea is one of the main partners of CAREC in Turkmenistan. During the meeting, the Chairman of the Foundation’s Executive Committee - Mr Guizgeldy Bayidzhanov - expressed the need to increase the share of the hard component in the planning and implementation of projects. As for now, the budget for the purchase of equipment or repair of facilities makes up on the average 10% of the total budget. According to Mr Bayidzhanov it is not enough: “In our country, and across Central Asia, we should promote visibility of the various activities, including the installment of counters, turntables, level, etc. As the Chairman of IFAS, I have asked all the countries on this matter and everyone agreed that they also needed it.”
The meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan was also productive. Mr Vepa Khadzhiev, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, expressed readiness on the part of Turkmenistan to continue working together. In particular, Mr Khadzhiev raised the prospects of cooperation for the opening of the Regional Centre on Climate Change in Turkmenistan. Mr Khadzhiev also highlighted that for more productive cooperation in the future there is a need to review current joint actions, discuss national and regional problems, and develop a common roadmap for further cooperation. Mr Makhmudov noted that such a practice would be useful in the CAREC branch offices in the countries of Central Asia.
CAREC also took part in the establishment of the residential area near the Altyn Asyr lake which is an artificial lake in the Northern Turkmenistan, replenished by collector-drainage waters. The head of the International water cooperation department of the State Committee for Water Management of Turkmenistan, Mr Yilkybaev Akmurad, said: “CAREC implemetns major tasks within its Smart Waters project. With regard to the accumulated experience, we have a number of ideas on the national projects, where we would gladly expect CAREC’s participation. For example, further joint work on the Altyn Asyr lake would be an excellent opportunity, since the Aral Sea problem has become high on the environmental agenda of our country.”
Mr Zafar Makhmudov, CAREC Executive Director, stressed out that CAREC was founded by the governments of the Central Asian countries. “We did provide and will continue to provide all necessary support as per your requests, while taking into consideration your interests, in different fields including capacity building trainings, organizing joint events and so forth” said Mr Makhmudov.
It is worth noting that similar meetings with national partners will be held in all countries of Central Asia.