19 November 2012: The fourth meeting of the Steering Committee of the EU Water Initiative’s National Policy Dialogue on Integrated Water Resource Management (NPD IWRM) in Tajikistan, was held on 15 November 2012, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is a strategic partner of the initiative. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources of Tajikistan, Rahmat Bobokalonov, and attended by more than 70 representatives of national authorities, international organizations and other development partners and stakeholders. Participants discussed the final step in the development of the Water Sector Reform Strategy in Tajikistan. The latest version of the Strategy will be submitted to the Government after a final review by the NPD IWRM Working Group. Thereafter, the national water legislation and the terms of reference of a working group on water legislation will be considered.

Participants also discussed the situation of hydropower in Tajikistan, as well as a project on setting targets under the Protocol on Water and Health to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. [UNECE Press Release]