Ashgabat, Turkmenistan – 30-31 June 2019. The second meeting of the Regional Working Group on the development of a new Action Program to assist the countries of the Aral Sea Basin (ASBP-4) and improvement of the tools of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC IFAS). This meeting was dedicated to the project proposal review submitted by countries for ASBP-4. There were almost 140 ideas presented to countries and partners, including Nexus investment projects, out of these ideas a list of 36 project was created for ASBP-4. Eight project proposals from the Nexus Project portfolio were fully or partially included in this list for ASBP-4. Project descriptions will be prepared before October 2019 for approval at the next working meeting of the regional working groups, which is scheduled for November 2019.
The meeting was organized by the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC IFAS) with the support from the EU-funded project “Nexus Dialogue in Central Asia», the GIZ Regional Program "Transboundary Water Resources Management in Central Asia",USAID funded project “Smart Waters” and the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.
For information. Since the establishment of IFAS, three programs have been implemented: ASBP-1 (1994-2002), ASBP-2 (2003-2010), ASBP -3 (2011-2015). The ASBP – 4 is expected to cover the period up to 2030. Within the framework of the EU-funded project “Nexus Dialogue in Central Asia” implemented by CAREC, which from the very beginning has been supporting EC IFAS in the development of ASBP-4 with the involvement of national experts, in providing expertise and other issues.
This Meeting was supported by the Project funded by the European Union and implemented by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC) in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with the support of the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC IFAS). The Project’s Phase I will last until December 2019 (total budget: €1.52 mln; EU contribution: €1.3 mln).