Almaty hosts the third meeting of regional organizations
December 5-6, 2016, Almaty, Kazakhstan, hosts the third meeting of the regional organizations, which are involved in sustainable development and management of water resources in Central Asia.
The initiators of the meeting are the organization of the International Fund for saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) and CAREC with the support of German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). This meeting is organized in the framework of the project “Strengthening capacities of regional, national and local level institutions and sustaining the experiences gained in the previous phases” in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
Objectives of the meeting:
• Combining the efforts of the UNECE and CAREC for the development and management of regional information space in the sphere of environmental protection and water resources in Central Asia;
• Support and promote CAREC initiatives and regional organizations in organizing of the Central Asian Environmental Forum (CAEF);
• The adoption of the Concept of interaction and cooperation of regional organizations involved in sustainable development and management of water resources in Central Asia and Action Plan of the regional organizations in 2017".
Dr. Iskandar Abdullaev, Executive Director of CAREC, opened the meeting:
"We need to hold such meetings to exclude any questions about what we are doing today and how we can contribute to each other's work, to carry out a horizontal cooperation, to form a common vision for regional partnership and strengthen positions."
Background
The first meeting of regional organizations was held on May 25-26, 2015, also in Almaty. The heads of regional organizations attended the meeting and highlighted the need of such platforms to meet regularly and exchange the information and develop joint actions.
Following these recommendations, on November 23-24, 2015, Almaty hosted a seminar-training for the specialists of regional organizations. During the training, CAREC shared its experience in executing regional projects, financial management and resource mobilization.
The second meeting of regional organizations was held on March 10-11, 2016. This event stressed the need to coordinate the activities of regional organizations again, highlighting the need of joint participation in international processes. Participants also noted the need to develop the Concept of interaction and cooperation of regional organizations involved in sustainable development and management of water resources in Central Asia and expressed the view that the Aral Sea Basin Development Program (ASBP) is the basis for coordinating the efforts of all organizations.
In accordance with the proposals made at the meetings, CAREC conducted next training for specialists of regional organizations on the project activities and mobilization of resources in Almaty on October 17-18, 2016. The training covered the entire cycle of projects funding: finding donor organizations, study their requirements, development of project proposal.
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The countries of the region have noted the need for enhancing the exchange of information between regional agencies, members of IFAS. In this context, the Coordinating Unit for the regional information space on water, energy, and environment and hydrology issues was created with the support of UNECE.
The main objective of the Unit is to create a platform for effective information management through the development of information space in these areas, as well as to improve decision-making support.