On Kazakh-Swiss negotiations on water issues

Nur-Sultan, October 28, 2021 – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan hosted a meeting of Ambassador-at-Large Alexey Volkov with the Swiss Special Water Envoy Guy Bonvin.

The parties discussed a wide range of issues related to the current water management situation in Kazakhstan, the state of regional cooperation in Central Asia in the water sector and the international water agenda.

Alexey Volkov focused on the development of relations between the Central Asian countries in the field of transboundary water management. He noted the active position of Nur-Sultan in strengthening regional cooperation in the water sector, and also stressed the efforts of the Kazakh leadership in this direction.

In addition, he noted the role and capacity of KazAID, the national operator of official development assistance recently established in Kazakhstan, in further strengthening regional cooperation, including in the water sector.

The Swiss Special Water Envoy noted the importance of establishing an International Water and Energy Consortium in Central Asia, which would be a clear example of mutually beneficial regional cooperation. The parties also supported the efforts of the Central Asian states to improve the activities of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, a unique organization with huge potential in solving the problems of the Aral Sea basin.

A separate topic of the meeting was the Blue Peace initiative, a brief overview of the activities of which was presented by the Swiss side.

In the context of the international agenda, the parties discussed issues of global climate change, as well as the preparations for the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow and the World Water Forum in Dakar in 2022.

          In conclusion, mutual interest was expressed in strengthening Kazakh-Swiss cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral formats.