Photo from the press service of the President of Uzbekistan
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been elected head of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS), a position he will hold in 2027-2029. This was announced at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Founding States of this organization, which includes the Central Asian republics. The latest meeting took place on April 22 in Astana, as reported by the press service of the Uzbek leader.
Speaking to the summit participants, Mirziyoyev noted that the Fund remains a unique regional structure whose importance is growing in the context of climate change and increasing water consumption in Central Asia (CA).
The President of Uzbekistan cited expert forecasts, according to which the water deficit in the Aral Sea basin could nearly double by 2040, reaching 20 billion cubic meters per year. As the head of state emphasized, this situation creates additional risks for drinking water supply, ecology, the agricultural sector, energy, and social stability.
At the same time, CA countries rank among the lowest in terms of water use efficiency. In agriculture, almost 3 cubic meters of water are used to create added value of $1, while the global average is half that amount.
Mirziyoyev drew attention to measures to improve water use efficiency being implemented in Uzbekistan. Thus, in a short period, water-saving technologies have been introduced on 60% of irrigated lands, and the lining of irrigation canals has reached 40%. Thanks to the modernization of pumping stations, energy consumption in the water sector has been reduced by nearly 30%. At the same time, a unified database covering over 600,000 water users and more than 4 million hectares of irrigated plots is being formed.
As a result, annual water savings of about 10 billion cubic meters are ensured. By 2030, this figure will reach the 15 billion cubic meter mark.
As the president stated, Uzbekistan, whose chairmanship of IFAS will begin next year, intends to turn the Fund into one of the key drivers of regional integration. Hope was also expressed for the full participation of Kyrgyzstan in the organization's activities.
The importance of applying effective financing instruments for the structure's priority programs was noted, which will allow directing targeted investments to implement vital environmental and socio-economic projects across all Central Asian states.
At the same time, it was proposed to launch the «Water of the Future» program, involving training for farmers and industrialists in the use of water-saving technologies. Additionally, the President of Uzbekistan called for strengthening cooperation on environmental and water resource issues with Afghanistan.
Concluding his speech, Mirziyoyev expressed hope that his colleagues would support his initiative to declare the period from 2026 to 2036 the «Decade of Practical Actions for Regional Water Use in Central Asia» and to hold Water Weeks on a regular basis.
The meeting of the Council of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea took place in Astana on April 22. The event was attended by the presidents of Kazakhstan — Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyzstan — Sadyr Japarov, Tajikistan — Emomali Rahmon, Turkmenistan — Serdar Berdimuhamedov, Uzbekistan — Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as the Chairman of the organization's Executive Committee, Askhat Orazbay.
Following the meeting, the Astana Declaration was signed. Additionally, the founders of IFAS announced that March 26 will become the International Day of the Aral Sea, the Amu Darya, and the Syr Darya rivers.
