For more than 10 years, UNECE and OECD, with funding from the European Union, have been supporting National Policy Dialogues (NPD) on integrated water resources management in 10 countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
In Central Asia, since 2016, the organization of NPD meetings in partner countries has been supported by the European Union funded project “European Union – Central Asia Water, Environment and Climate Change Cooperation (WECOOP)”.
The NPD is a cross-sectoral platform where key stakeholders meet to discuss and further advance the water sector reform. NDPs are guided by a Steering Committee, which gather high level representatives of different sectors concerned by water policies.
According to the current national water and environment policy, intersectoral cooperation is placed as one of its tasks. Thus, a composition of the National Steering Committee for the National Policy Dialogue on the Integrated Water Resources Management was approved by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan on 16 June 2022, and the Ministry of Water Resources of Uzbekistan requested the UNECE to support organizing the dialogue.
The objectives of the first meeting of the NPD Steering Committee in Uzbekistan are as follows:
- launch the National Policy Dialogue on Integrated Water Resources Management in Uzbekistan and define its objectives and programme of work,
- discuss Uzbekistan’s achievements, challenges and priorities related to water policy, and how the NPD process can support progress on water policies and facilitate technical and financial support to the development of the water sector,
- agree on a way forward for NPD implementation.
