BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 22. SPECA (Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia) has created conditions for significant regional cooperation over 25 years of its activity, Advisor and Special Representative of Kazakhstan's President on International Environmental Cooperation Zulfiya Suleimenova said, Trend reports.
She spoke at the SPECA 2023 Economic Forum in Baku. Azerbaijan is chairing the program in 2023 and hosting SPECA Days in Baku on November 20–24, 2023.
"Currently, SPECA is recognized as a coordinator for reducing trade barriers in transport, introducing sustainable development models and promoting economic development," Suleimenova said.
In her opinion, the most pressing issues in the next 25 years will be climate change, which is particularly relevant for Kazakhstan, energy and food security, desertification, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of water resources.
"We are already witnessing the effects of climate change, which is occurring at a rapid rate. The most vulnerable sectors to climate change are agriculture, forestry, water resources and there is also a risk of natural disasters. Special attention in agriculture should be paid, in particular, to crop diversification and introduction of modern organic farming," she emphasized.
Suleimenova mentioned that in the field of water resources management the priority directions should be reduction of water intensity of economy, minimization of water losses during transportation, reduction of cultivation of water-intensive crops, introduction of water recycling and reduction of industrial water use.
She also added that in Kazakhstan about 60 percent of water resources are used in agriculture, while more than 30 percent are used in industry.
The UN SPECA program was established on March 26, 1998. At present, the SPECA member states are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
SPECA provides a platform for sub-regional cooperation to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that can best be achieved through regional cooperation.
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