Address by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the meeting of the Council of the Heads of the Founder States of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea

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Esteemed heads of delegations!

I echo the words of gratitude to His Excellency Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for his warm hospitality and the excellent organization of our summit.

We highly appreciate the fruitful chairmanship of our Kazakhstani friends at the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. There has been significant progress in strengthening trust and dialogue, implementing the Fund’s projects and improving its activities taking into consideration the interests of all countries in the region.

We endorse the final documents, which are being adopted today. Their implementation will mark an important step towards further strengthening of regional cooperation and sustainable development in the Aral Sea basin.

Distinguished summit participants!

The International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) remains a unique regional organization established at the dawn of our countries’ independence to address the most pressing water, socio-economic and environmental issues in Central Asia.

The IFAS has made a significant contribution to the establishment of qualitatively new interstate relations in the region, and to the development and strengthening of regional cooperation.

Thanks to its system of interaction the IFAS has succeeded in ensuring coordinated management of water resources in the Aral Sea basin.

The Fund’s role and significance are growing even further in the context of climate change and rising water consumption, which are leading to increasing water stress in Central Asia.

According to expert estimates, the water deficit in the Aral Sea basin could almost double – to 20 billion cubic metres per year by as early as 2040. This would pose additional risks to drinking water supplies, the environment, agriculture, energy production and social stability.

At the same time, our countries rank among the lowest in terms of water use efficiency. In agriculture, we use almost three cubic metres of water to generate one dollar of added value, whereas the global average is half that amount.

The situation in the region requires us to jointly develop and implement effective and comprehensive solutions in the water, energy and environmental sectors.

Distinguished colleagues!

This morning at the Regional Ecological Summit, I spoke about Uzbekistan’s efforts to adapt its national economy to climate change and strengthen environmental protection.

Let me now elaborate on the measures being taken to improve the efficiency of water use, which is one of the Fund’s key priorities.

In a short space of time, water-saving technologies have been introduced across 60 percent of all irrigated land in Uzbekistan, and the concreting of irrigation channels has reached 40 percent. Thanks to the modernization of pumping stations energy consumption in the water sector has fallen by almost 30 percent. A unified digital database covering over 600 thousand water users and more than four million hectares of irrigated land is being developed.

Thanks to the implementation of these measures annual savings of over 10 billion cubic meters of water resources have been achieved. This figure is expected to reach 15 billion cubic meters by 2030. These measures are all comprehensive and consistent, and are reflected in the Water Code adopted last year.

Dear friends!

From next year, Uzbekistan will take over the chairmanship of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea.

We intend to ensure that the Fund becomes a key driver of regional integration.

In this regard, I would like to outline the priorities of our chairmanship.

First. Development and modernization of the activities of the IFAS.

Building on the foundations already laid, we must refine the Fund’s structure and legal framework further, ensuring a clear division of functions among its bodies.

The Regional Working Group set up for this purpose has already held 15 meetings. Problems in the Fund’s activities have been analyzed and its tasks and functions have been defined more clearly. We must now agree on the structure, regulatory framework, and financing mechanisms, considering the interests of all our countries.

We support the proposals to expand the powers of the IFAS governing bodies, and enhance their profile and scope of responsibility. I am confident that we will reach a reasonable consensus on all of these matters.

We sincerely hope for the resumption of full participation by the brotherly Kyrgyz Republic in IFAS activities, as this would contribute to the Fund adopting more balanced and long-term decisions.

Second. Synchronizing Fund’s agenda with the decisions of the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia.

Consultative meetings shape the fundamental policy guidelines for regional development. It is therefore important to ensure close coordination among the decisions taken at these summits and the activities of the IFAS.

The sustainable development priorities agreed at the top level during the Consultative Meetings can also be implemented through the relevant mechanisms of the Fund.

Third. Improving the efficiency of the Fund’s programs and projects.

The fourth Aral Sea Basin Program envisages the implementation of 34 regional projects. Unfortunately, no unified approach has yet been developed to assess its effectiveness.

To this end, we propose the inclusion of key performance indicators in the monitoring of the Program’s implementation. This will facilitate tracking the progress, identification of bottlenecks and mobilization of additional funding and technical assistance from international partners.

Fourth. Utilizing existing efficient financing instruments for Fund’s priority programs.

For instance, we propose to use the UN Multi-Partner Human Security Trust Fund for the Aral Sea Region platform, which has a proven track record of pooling and effectively deploying financial resources.

We could jointly explore the possibility of expanding the Trust Fund’s mandate and geographical scope to include the entire Aral Sea basin. This would allow us to channel targeted investments towards urgent environmental and socio-economic projects in all our countries.

Fifth. Establishing active cooperation between the IFAS and other regional bodies. 

The IFAS needs to build practical cooperation with effective regional platforms focusing on water and energy issues, conservation of glaciers and mountain ecosystem, adaptation to climate change, and mitigation of desertification.

In particular, we propose that the IFAS implements targeted projects in collaboration with the Centre for Combating Desertification at the Green University in Tashkent.

Sixth. The revival of our peoples’ centuries-old tradition of caring for water as the source of life.

It is clear that no engineering solutions will have the desired effect unless society’s attitude towards water itself changes.

Through a system of continuous education, from pre-school to professional training, we must strive to make the rational use of water a daily habit for everyone and a shared cultural norm.

We propose launching the regional “Water of the Future” program, a key component of which will be practical training for farmers and manufacturers in the use of modern water-saving technologies.

I would like to emphasize that we stand ready to actively engage with international partners, financial institutions, expert and analytical bodies to implement all the aforementioned priorities.

I would like to draw particular attention to the importance of strengthening constructive engagement with Afghanistan and involving the country into regional cooperation on climate, environmental, agricultural and water management issues.

A pressing priority today is to secure funding from international donors for carrying out bank protection and land reclamation works in Afghanistan.

In the long run, it is necessary to establish a regional legal framework on the allocation of water resources, taking into account the rights and obligations of all countries in the Aral Sea basin, including Afghanistan.

Distinguished colleagues!

As we take up the IFAS Chairmanship baton, I would like to note that, together with all the states of Central Asia, we must step up our efforts to implement the water, energy and environmental agenda, which is particularly relevant to our region.

In this regard, I rely on your support for realization of our initiatives to designate the period from 2026 to 2036 as the “Decade of Practical Action for the Rational Use of Water in Central Asia”, and hold regularly Water Week in our countries.

I look forward to welcoming you all to the World Forum on Water Conservation in Samarkand at the end of September.

Thank you for your attention.