QUADRIPARTITE UNION MARKS TIME.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 4 Issue: 124

Meeting in Bishkek on June 26, the Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan–the member countries of the Central Asian Union (CAU)–failed to reach agreement on the joint use of water resources in the region. The four heads of government had been expected to sign two agreements. One concerns the formation of a quadripartite consortium to manage the irrigation and hydropower system of the Syr-Daria river. A second agreement involves coordinating the four countries’ electricity-generating and transmission systems. The draft agreements will be reconsidered at the prime ministers’ next meeting, scheduled to be held in September. This almost certainly means that the CAU’s next summit, scheduled for July 17, will end without significant results in terms of economic cooperation. (Itar-Tass, June 26) — VS

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