The State Committee for Water Management has hosted the fourth meeting of the Turkmen-Afghan Coordination Commission on Water Management, conducted online via videoconferencing.

On instructions from the head of state Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Turkmenistan was represented by the State Committee for Water Management and the State Border Service. From the Afghan side, the meeting was chaired by Technical Deputy Minister of National Water Affairs Regulation Authority of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ahmad Wais Basiri.

During the meeting, special emphasis was placed on closer collaboration between the two countries’ relevant agencies to ensure integrated water resources management in the basins of the Amudarya, Murgap and Tejen Rivers.

The issue is of special importance since rivers are the main sources of water for agriculture, industry, electricity production, and drinking in Central Asia. And almost all of the region’s rivers – Amudarya, Murgap, Tejen, Sumbar, and Etrek – are transboundary.

The meeting participants spoke for strengthening and fostering the cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on the joint management of transboundary water resources in accordance with international law and in the best interests of each side.

The meeting culminated in the signing of a relevant Protocol.

Water diplomacy is an important focus of the policy pursued by the head of state. The international initiatives announced by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the United Nations General Assembly and other large forums seek to boost a regional and interregional dialogue across the whole spectrum of issues.

This particularly concerns the issues of developing a mutually acceptable mechanism for integrated and sustainable management of the transboundary water resources, which should be tackled, as the Turkmen leader highlights, exclusively in line with generally accepted rules and principles of international law and in the interests of all the countries in the region.