Azerbaijan, Baku, January 26 / Trend , V.Zhavoronkova /
Uzbekistan is looking for common ground and mutual understanding with the neighboring republics in the issue of distribution of water resources in Central Asia, said Uzbek expert Sergey Yezhkov.
"Uzbekistan does not set the task of confrontation with neighboring states, Yezhkov told Trend by telephone from Tashkent. - Tashkent is seeking common ground and understanding that will resolve the issue [of water distribution] without loss to the neighboring countries."
Water problems of Central Asia are that before getting to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the two main water-bearing rivers Syr Darya and Amu Darya in the region flows through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which lose much of the water. Mostly Uzbekistan suffers from the lack of water. Uzbekistan's main crop is cotton.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan do not have enough electricity, and countries have no opportunities to generate it through thermal power plants (TPP) due to lack of raw materials. Therefore, to generate electricity, these states use water and now are in need of constructing additional hydroelectric power plants (HPP).
This can further reduce the flow of water to Uzbekistan, which disturbs the government and creates tensions between the countries of the region.
According to Yezhkov, the countries will soon come to a compromise in this regard.
"Not only Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, but also Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, will reach a compromise in the end," he said. Compromise in this regard must be achieved by the countries independently, without outside mediation, the expert said.
According to him, the task is clear, as the possible consequences of pending disputes are clear, the sides need only to agree.
The expert said that usually the mediators perform more decorative function rather than a real influence on the situation. Real impact on this issue means to promote infringement of interests of either one or the other country, the expert said.
"It is my deep conviction that the two countries, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, have enough will and political vision in order to resolve these issues without mediators and without the intervention of great powers," said Yezhkov.
He said that currently the sides hold active negotiations on the water issue.
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