May 22 , 2015
News
Tajikistan invites PM Nawaz to international water conference
* Tajikistan ambassador says conference will review implementation of international decade for action * 17 Pakistani companies have expressed keen interest in attending the conferenceISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is likely to attend a high-level international conference on the implementation of the International Decade for Action “Water for life”, 2005-2015, which will take place on June 9-11 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The main goal of the decade was to promote efforts to fulfil international commitments made on water and water-related issues by the year 2015. These commitments also included the development goals contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, particularly, the goal to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
“We have invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to participate in the conference and hope he will attend the conference to achieve the sustainable development of water resources, calling upon member countries, UN system institutions, including the “UN-Water” and other organisations to comprehensively evaluate the progress achieved in the implementation of the decade and continue taking steps for achieving internationally agreed water-related goals,” Tajikistan Ambassador Sherali S Jononov said while briefing the journalists on Thursday.
He said that the primary goal of the conference is a comprehensive discussion of the issues on implementation of the International Decade for Action “Water for Life”, 2005-2015, which will later play a crucial role in conducting a comprehensive review of the implementation of the international decade with bringing its results to the notice of the wider international community.
The Tajikistan ambassador said that United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would also take part in the conference and deliver a speech. He said that during the conference the progress on the objectives achieved would also be discussed and measures be suggested to implement the non-achieved objectives. He further said that as many as 17 Pakistani companies had expressed keen interest to attend the conference which was taking place for better water management.
“It will be a message to the world community for better managing water; otherwise it will be too late,” Sherali said adding that all resolutions had been adopted by the support of Pakistan. “Pakistan has been supporting us on water issues in UN,” he added. He said that Pakistan and Tajikistan were working on Casa-1000MW power import project which would be completed in 2018. “We will be supplying clean and cheaper energy to Pakistan through this project.” He said that the process of tendering would be completed latest by next five months. He said that the power import project was a dream five year back but it had become a reality now.
The ambassador also appreciated the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that it would provide the cheapest route for transportation of goods to the Central Asian States. “We are pleased that the Pakistani government is developing new road network which will also create jobs and transform the region,” he added.
“We will also sign transit trade agreement soon with Pakistan and Afghanistan to enhance trade between the two countries,” he said adding that bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Tajikistan was $100 million last year and the trade balance was in favour of Pakistan. He said that both countries had pledged to enhance trade volume to half a billion dollars in next five years.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk