Glasgow, UK, 11 November 2021 – Official Closing Ceremony of Central Asia Pavilion “5 countries – 1 region – 1 voice” was held in online and offline.
During the event, the results of the work of the Central Asia Pavilion were summed up. The Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) Zafar Makhmudov expressed gratitude to all his partners who made a financial and substantive contribution to the organization of the CA Pavilion.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic, Beksultan Ibraimov, thanked for the organized platform, which turned into a unique platform for important negotiations for all CA countries. “On behalf of the region, we have a better chance of positioning ourselves correctly on the global climate agenda. The Pavilion is a successful experience of the countries of Central Asia and CAREC,” said Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic Beksultan Ibraimov.
In his turn, FAO Tajikistan Oleg Guchgeldiyev stressed that it is remarkable to see Central Asian States as one region. According to him, there is no country who can benefit from climate change or avoid its impacts. “So, regional approaches in solving climate change problem is a matter of great importance,” said Oleg Guchgeldiyev FAO Tajikistan
OSCE Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan Dr. Volker Frobart congratulated CAREC and all national partners on the work accomplished by Central Asia Pavilion. Randa Ahmed from UNOPS/ICAT joined his congratulations. “It was an honor to work with you. Good luck!” said he.
In turn, the representative of UNDP Kazakhstan Sabyr Asylbekov spoke about his feelings, which aroused in him the very idea of creating the CA Pavilion. It encouraged him. He noted that despite the objective obstacles, CAREC employees achieved their goal with their energetic efforts, and the Central Asian countries had their own home at the UNFCCC COP-26. “Over the years, everything is forgotten, everything that happened, but we will have a feeling inside that we were able to do it together,” said Sabyr Asylbekov. He stressed that UNDP is always ready to support such initiatives.
Representative of Zoï Environment Network Viktor Novikov said the CA Pavilion "5 countries - 1 region - 1 vote" has become the center of gravity of the entire Central Asia. “The presence of high-level delegates, EC IFAS gave political and diplomatic weight to the events in the CA Pavilion,” said Viktor Novikov.
Chairperson of ECOM NGO Svetlana Mogilyuk thanked CAREC on behalf of civil society and stressed that the preparation of NGO Regional Statement become an important moment. She wished CAREC to create similar platforms at other conferences. “It is very important for our region to take a place in the political space,” said Svetlana Mogilyuk. She expressed interest in cooperation and mobilization of efforts and hope that after the work of the Central Asia Pavilion dialogues at the national level with the involvement of civil society will become more successful.
Central Asia Pavilion is organized by CAREC in cooperation with EC IFAS and IGTIPC under financial support of the World Bank, OSCE, ERG, FAO and UNDP.
Record is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlqebHKEIqw