A scientific conference on water resources in the Central Asian region was held in Tashkent in two stages. The first was held in March this year in an online format and was more of an introductory and organizational nature. The event was organized by the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan was represented at the forum by specialists from the design institute "Turkmensuwylymtaslama" and workers of the scientific Center for Strategic Studies of the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.
The outcome of the discussion of the problems of water resources use in the region at the first stage of the meeting was an agreement to reach agreed decisions during the second stage, which took place on April 10 in Tashkent. A special feature of the second session was that both practical specialists directly involved in water issues in their republics and those who supported their delegation with scientific calculations and arguments - scientists, analysts, experts specializing in water and having many years of experience in the field of water use - came to Tashkent.
As is traditional in the East, the main moderator of the conference, one of the heads of the Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Akramjon Nematov after the official opening of the conference, was very pleased to be one of the first to give the floor to the veteran, who headed the water management structures of the Republic for many years, the honored irrigator of Uzbekistan Rim Abdulovich Giniyatullin. The prominent Uzbek public and state figure warmly greeted the participants of the Tashkent forum and wished scientists and practitioners to always seek compromises and come to an agreement in any situation, finding mutually acceptable solutions that suit absolutely everyone. Water should never be a “bone of contention,” the veteran added.
Those gathered warmly and with great hospitality accepted the wishes of the Uzbek waterman-aksakal.
The current conference was also notable for the fact that a representative of the Afghan state structure dealing with water management issues took part in its work. And his speech was received with great interest by all conference participants. Before the current conference, experts and scientists in almost all countries of the Central Asian region repeatedly spoke out in favor of involving the Afghan side in solving water management issues. And now this has become a reality.
The Turkmen side was represented at the conference by the head of the association "Garagumderyasuwhojalyk" of the State Committee for Water Management of Turkmenistan Begench Mommadov and senior researcher at the Scientific Center for Strategic Studies of the Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Bekdurdy Amansaryev.
The main topic of the Tashkent conference was that practically all speeches by practitioners and scientists called for solving any issues arising in the water sphere only together and on equal terms. Water diplomacy in the region is becoming a driving and unifying force capable of responding to the most serious challenges on a legal basis.
