Today, on November 22, 2020, the forth meeting of Coordinative Commission on Water Resources between Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan took place in the premises of the State Committee for Water Resources via videoconferencing.
The representatives of the external policy agency, the State Committee for Water Resources and State Border Service of Turkmenistan took part in the meeting from the Turkmen side.
The Afghan delegation was headed by the Technical Deputy Minister of National Water Affairs Regulation Authority of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ahmad Wais Basiri.
During the meeting, the participants thoroughly discussed the issues of collaboration between the profile organizations of two countries on equitable and efficient use of outflows of such rivers as Amudarya, Murgab and Tejen.
As is known, the water diplomacy is a significant vector of external policy of Turkmenistan.
The international initiatives voiced by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the sessions of the UN General Assembly and other major platforms are aimed at the intensification of regional and international dialogue on the whole spectrum of water problems. In particular, it is related to the issues of development of mutually beneficial mechanism of complex and balanced use of transboundary waters which, as stated by the President of Turkmenistan, must be resolved solely on the basis of generally accepted norms and principles of international law taking into consideration the interests of all the states of the region.
The relevance of this issue is conditioned by the fact that the main sources of water resources in Central Asia used for agriculture, industry, energy production, and for the supply of population with drinkable water are the rivers and practically all of them are transboundary.
During the current session, the participants spoke for further strengthening and development of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the area of joint use of transboundary waters on the basis of norms and principles of international law and mutual account for the interests of two sides.
