President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has been elected as the President of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) by the decision of the heads of the founding states, and Kazakhstan will assume the chairmanship for three years, announced Sultan Rahimzoda, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of IFAS, TASS reports.
"[The participants of the meeting have made a] decision to elect Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the President of IFAS for a term of three years, starting from January 1, 2024. Thus, the chairmanship in IFAS will be transferred to the Republic of Kazakhstan from the beginning of the next year," Rahimzoda said at a briefing.
Following the summit, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed three more documents, including a joint statement, a decision of the heads of states regarding the chairmanship of IFAS by Tajikistan, and a decision on activities to improve the organizational structures and the contractual and legal framework of the fund.
IFAS was founded in 1993 to address the environmental disaster in the Aral Sea region, which resulted from land reclamation and water diversion from its feeding rivers in the second half of the 20th century. According to IFAS, the shrinking of the sea has had a negative impact on the lives of approximately 50 million people.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev invited the participants of the meeting of the Council of the heads of states - founders of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) to Kazakhstan, as reported by Tengrinews.kz.
"The current summit convincingly proves that only close cooperation, mutually beneficial partnership, and respect for each other's interests can ensure the stable development, security, and economic self-sufficiency of our region.
I am confident that our meeting will allow us to make timely and consolidated decisions that will contribute to further strengthening regional cooperation in the water sector.
I propose to hold the next high-level meeting in Kazakhstan in 2026, combining it with the Regional Climate Summit initiated by me under the auspices of the United Nations," Tokayev said during the meeting in Dushanbe.
He confirmed Kazakhstan's readiness to make maximum efforts to bring IFAS activities to a qualitatively new level.
"I am convinced that the active participation of all founding states in the work of the fund will contribute to the successful resolution of water issues and further deepening of regional integration," Tokayev assured the leaders of neighboring countries.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
September 15, 2023