Foreign Affairs Presents Outcomes of Summit to Save Aral Sea

The event attended by representatives of diplomatic missions, international organizations, environmental experts, civil society and mass media drew the Summit outcomes presented by the Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan, heads of the UN Country Office, UNRCCA and OSCE.

“I believe that holding of the Summit was timely, as the problems of the Aral Sea basin have deteriorated. The scale of the impact of the Aral Sea crisis has spread far beyond the region of Central Asia. This means that the efforts of the countries themselves in the region are not enough. We need a unified, coordinated approach to solving this problem of absolutely all partners: governments, the UN, donor organizations, financial institutions, civil society, youth, and the private sector” noted Ms. Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan.

She also welcomed the Summit decision to adopt the Program of actions on providing assistance to the countries of the Aral Sea Basin (ASBP-4) and Concept of UN Special Program to join efforts and capacities of the states of the region and the international community in order to address the overall priority issues as water, environmental and socio-economic dimensions.

The participants of the meeting expressed their confidence that the proposals and initiatives reflected in the Joint Communiqué will help identify key directions within IFAS and be reflected in practical implementation of initiatives to address the environmental challenges in the region.