Green Central Asia Initiative – Working group meeting confirms outline of a joint regional action plan
On Thursday, 17 June 2021, the second online working group meeting for adopting a joint action plan within the Green Central Asia Initiative took place.
The meeting brought together for the second time the designated focal points for the Green Central Asia Initiative of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the partner countries – the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as specialists from the respective Water and Environment Ministries and hydrometeorological services. Representatives of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and at the German Embassies in the partner countries were also in attendance.
During the second working group meeting the structure of the draft joint action plan and the four priority areas of the plan were confirmed. The partner countries decided to focus on the topics of water and land management under conditions of climate change, cooperation on and contribution of Central Asia to international environment instruments as well as waste management. Subsequent working group and other meetings will start the political process with activities around the four priority areas. They will also fine tune the support for moving Central Asia to the forefront in global climate and environment policies. Additionally, coordination with international partner organisations was also discussed.
Background information: The German Federal Foreign Office launched Green Central Asia in January 2020 as part of a preventive and stabilising foreign policy. It is a regional initiative on climate and security in Central Asia – spanning Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam and German-Kazakh University.
As defined in the Joint Declaration of 28 January 2020, signed by the five Central Asian countries and Germany, topics and priorities in the field of climate, environment and security comprise: environmental protection, mitigation of negative impacts of the Aral Sea crisis, water, renewable energy and energy efficiency, glacier protection, biodiversity, afforestation, combating desertification, land management and sustainable agriculture.
The first working group (WG) meeting on May 6, 2021 (online) was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and state authorized bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Republic of Uzbekistan, the Federal Republic of Germany. During the meeting, the working group presented a consolidated plan of priority projects submitted by the CA countries. Draft plan of joint actions was finalized on the basis of priority directions (clusters) and provided to the working group members, country representatives for further agreement on working level.
