DUSHANBE, March 9, 2012, Asia-Plus -- A two-day Ministerial Conference “Water Diplomacy in Central Asia” took place in Germany on March 7-8.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, Mr. Mahmoudjon Sobirov, First Deputy Foreign Minister, and Mr. Sulton Rahimov, First Deputy Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources, represented Tajikistan at the conference.

Organized by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the conference reportedly brought together senior representatives of ministries of foreign affairs and water resources from Central Asia’s countries.

Germany’s Federal Foreign Office notes that water is a valuable and scarce commodity for the Central Asian states.  Climate change and cultivation by the population have led to higher temperatures and evaporation rates. The desiccation of the Aral Sea during the last decades has highlighted the problem. Germany is helping the Central Asian states Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to utilize their shared water resources in an efficient, sustainable and fair manner. 

According to the Federal Foreign Office, opening the conference, Foreign Minister Westerwelle told high-ranking representatives from all five countries in the region and from Afghanistan on March 7 that Germany is keen to help the Central Asian states find viable solutions.  The challenges are considerable. It is hoped that greater water and energy efficiency can be achieved through technical and economic innovation.  Fair and sensible distribution mechanisms among the various forms of use – agriculture, energy and sanitation – had to be found, the German Foreign Minister stated.

The Tajik MFA information reports the conference participants adopted a joint declaration on further cooperation between Germany and Central Asia’s countries. 

The Federal Foreign office of Germany says the aim of the next cooperation phase remains to enhance and further develop the ecological, social and economic situation in the Aral Sea basin.  To this end, the countries in question want to work with Germany to improve scientific and technical cooperation, foster a program on trans-boundary water management and expand academic training in this field.

The conference was held to launch the second phase of a water initiative for Central Asia (the ‘Berlin Process’).

We will recall that the Federal Foreign Office of Germany announced the launch of a water initiative for Central Asia (the ‘Berlin Process’) at the Berlin water conference “Water Unites - New Perspectives for Cooperation and Security” on April 1, 2008.  The initiative is an offer by the German Federal Government to the countries of Central Asia to support them in water management and to make water a subject of intensified trans-boundary cooperation.  The primary goal is to thereby set in train a process of political rapprochement in Central Asia that leads to closer cooperation in the use of the scarce water resources and may result in joint water and energy management in the long term.

The water initiative for Central Asia has four pillars: 1) Promoting trans-boundary water management; 2) expanding scientific knowledge for trans-boundary water management; 3) networking water experts in Germany, the EU and Central Asia; and 4) establishing a course in water management at the German-Kazakh University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.