OREANDA-NEWS. April 22, 2009. The new approaches to efficient management of water resources were the focus of the seminar held in Almaty on April 19-21. The forum brought together the delegations of the Central Asian governments and leading international experts.

On the instructions of the President of Turkmenistan the Turkmen delegation led by Deputy Minister of Water Industry of Turkmenistan K. Ataliyev took part in the forum organized by the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia (UNRCCA) in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Based on the need for the complex approach to solving one of the most urgent problems of the Central Asian region the Turkmen delegation included the specialists of the Mejlis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Nature Protection and the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkmenistan.

As is known Turkmenistan pays much attention to maintaining the constructive dialogue in this vital sphere including efficient use and management water and energy resources. In particular, the Turkmen leader had put forward the initiatives aimed at developing the dialogue on water and energy problems during the meeting of the Central Asian leaders in Bishkek last year. This seminar in Almaty became another important step to achieve this aim.

The seminar participants exchanged views on the progress in implementing the provisions of the current international water conventions and learnt about the international practice in negotiations for multilateral water-related agreements. This meeting vividly demonstrated the partners’ willingness to maintain an open dialogue and readiness to actively collaborate on a basis of mutual respect, balance of interests and universally recognized international law norms and standards. For the next three years the water and energy related issues continued to be a priority aspect of the Action Programme of the UNRCCA which provided active assistance to the Central Asian governments in establishing close cooperation to adequately address threats and potential challenges of the modern world.