TASHKENT
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan reached an agreement on the joint management of water resources from the Amu Darya river, moving closer to resolving a long-standing dispute between the two Central Asian countries, as well as others in the region.
Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry described the deal, which aims to create a joint intergovernmental commission to oversee water management, as a “breakthrough”.
Both countries use water from the Amu Darya river, which rises in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan and feeds countries in Central Asia and Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have also signed an agreement on paid land use.
“The signing of these documents will serve as a further breakthrough in the joint exploitation of transboundary water resources on a rational and fair basis, in the spirit of friendship and good neighbourliness,” Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are served by two rivers.
Amu Darya provides water both to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while Syr Darya is an additional vital source of water for Uzbekistan. The two countries, situated in one of the driest places in the world, have long been in dispute for equal and fair access to water resources. Cotton and grain are the main livelihood for most of the region’s 58-million population and access to water is vital for local farmers for the irrigation of crops. Water is such an essential element of the region’s identity that Central Asia was known in classical Greek texts as Transoxiana, which literally means the land on the other side of the Oxus River (now the Amu Darya).
Disputes over water use increased after the collapse of the Soviet Union as countries of the region failed to create an efficient regional approach to replace Soviet-era systems of water management.
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan as well as Kazakhstan all need increasing amounts of water to meet the needs of their growing populations and their agricultural industry. Meanwhile, economically weaker Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are seeking more control for hydropower and irrigation.
International donor organisations have urged Central Asia not only to use water more economically but also to agree on fair division and access to water resources. Water shortages are causing concern the world over, because of rising demand, climate change and swelling populations.