Kazakhstan will receive 922
million cubic meters of water from Uzbekistan via the Dostyk interstate canal in
the upcoming irrigation period. The corresponding agreement was reached at the
86th meeting of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (ICWC), which
includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Nearly
five billion cubic meters of water have been collected from the Shardara
reservoir in the Turkistan region. A total of eight billion cubic meters of
water used for irrigating fields in the South Kazakhstan region have been accumulated
at the Toktogul hydropower plant in the Kyrgyz Republic.
“Our primary task now is to collect floodwater.
We are directing it to the Caspian, Balkhash, and Kamys-Samar lakes,
from the Ulytau region to the lakes of the Kyzylorda region and others. It is
also important to provide water to the southern regions. In this regard, water
diplomacy is crucial,” said Bibarys Danabayev, spokesperson for the Kazakh
Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are currently developing a draft agreement ‘On
establishing a mechanism for water and energy cooperation among the Central
Asian countries’.
