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Central Asian summit to focus on water resources Sept. 2

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Leaders from Central Asian nations from the former Soviet Union will gather for an informal summit this week to focus on the use of water resources and other regional issues.
ASTANA, August 28 (RIA Novosti) - Leaders from Central Asian nations from the former Soviet Union will gather for an informal summit this week to focus on the use of water resources and other regional issues.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan, which will host the meeting of the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, said the meeting would take place September 2.

Yerzhan Ashikbayev said: "Further discussions on the creation of an international water and energy consortium as an instrument to promote the effective use of water resources in the region will be the most important issue on the summit agenda."

Water resources have long been a point of contention among regional countries. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, located in the upper course of the Syr Darya River basin, use the river for power generation. This affects Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan down the river, which have traditionally used it for irrigation.

The idea to set up a consortium to ensure the river is used effectively and the interests of all the Central Asian countries are observed was put forward by Russia, which possesses 25% of the world's water resources. The initiative received a boost at the August 15-16 summit of the Eurasec, an economic organization that comprises the Central Asian nations plus Russia and Belarus.

Eurasian Development Bank, set up by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006, could finance the project.

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