Tashkent, Uzbekistan, July 9
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The European Union intends to increase the aid to Central Asian countries for environmental programs, Yuri Stark, head of the EU Delegation in Uzbekistan said.
He made the remarks during the meeting of the EU-Central Asia Working Group on Environmental Governance and Climate Change held in Tashkent.
"Central Asia is a region which faces global environmental problems," he said. "Today, we are holding consultations with the representatives of the region's countries on working out the new regional environment program of EU."
He added that the concrete parameters and proposals put forward by the region's countries during the meeting will be taken into account when developing the new program.
It is expected that the new regional environment program of EU for Central Asia (EURECA-II) can be adopted in October in Milan during the meeting of the government representatives of Central Asian and EU countries.
During the three-day meeting of the working group, practical measures will be worked out on ensuring more sustainable environmental and social development in the region. The participants will also discuss the issues of coordinating the activities in the sphere of environmental protection.
EURECA-I budget for 2012-2015 was 9.2 million euros. The program included several components: strengthening regional cooperation and partnership with the EU in the water resources management sphere, conservation of forest biodiversity, holding environmental monitoring and increasing public awareness in environmental matters.
In late June, EU approved the new program on cooperation with Central Asian countries for 2014-2020. This program envisages increasing the aid by 1.5 times compared to the previous seven-year program and bringing it to 1.068 billion euros.
Edited by SI