On September 17-18, in Nur-Sultan, the leadership of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) met with international partners in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Executive Director of CAREC Zafar Makhmudov, Director of the CAREC branch in Kazakhstan Shynar Toilybayeva and international expert Jorg Dinkelaker met with the Ambassadors of India, Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, OSCE and the European Union.
During the meeting of Mr. Makhmudov with the new Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Ku Hong-sok, the parties touched upon a wide range of issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Korea and the countries of Central Asia, namely, about the four main directions of development of the Republic of Tajikistan for the near future, getting out of the communication blockade, developing the energy sector, industrializing agriculture and becoming on the path of a sustainable green economy. He also invited his colleague to consider the possibilities of cooperation in the development of tourism in Tajikistan. The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Ibodzoda H. The Ambassador of Tajikistan informed that starting this year, the chairmanship of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea will be transferred to Tajikistan and the President of the Fund will be the President of Tajikistan during the chairmanship. The work within the framework of this fund and CAREC opens up new opportunities in many development sectors throughout the region, such as water resources management, cooperation in the field of energy, environmental protection and etc.
Within the framework of the meeting of the Executive Director of CAREC with the Ambassador of India, issues of CAREC activities in the direction of renewable energy sources, combating climate change were discussed; and the ecological situation of the Aral Sea. Agreements were reached on cooperation and participation of Kazakhstan and CA in the Solar Alliance meeting and India + C4.
At the meeting with the Ambassador of Switzerland, during which the Executive Director informed about possible ways of cooperation between Switzerland and CAREC, agreements were reached on sustainable management of water resources in Central Asian countries, namely on water quality and ecology, and on strengthening support of Swiss International Cooperation and Development to Central Asian countries.
In addition, meetings were held with the Ambassador of the European Commission, the Ambassador of Canada and the Ambassador of the OSCE, following the results of the above meetings, the international partners were invited to the third Central Asian Conference on Climate Change (CACCC 2020), which will be held on October 19-23, 2020 in the mode online. The purpose of the online conference is to help strengthen regional dialogue on climate change and sustainable development through information and knowledge exchange in Central Asia.
During the meeting with the Ambassador of Germany, Mr. Makhmudov emphasized CAREC's readiness to cooperate on climate change issues and further strengthening of institutional support for the CAREC project office in Afghanistan and readiness to assist in every possible way in addressing environmental issues and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Central Asia. As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached on the participation of the Deputy Minister for Climate Change of Germany in CACCC-2020.