Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, March 4 / Trend H.Hasanov /
The U.N. and the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) signed a memorandum of understanding at the U.N. Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia.
The U.N. News Center reported that the IFAS was established April 9, 1999. The organization was granted observer status at the U.N. General Assembly Dec. 11, 2008. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are the fund's founders.
The memorandum aims to develop cooperation to strengthen regional cooperation, and improve the ecological and socioeconomic situation in the Aral Sea.
Earlier U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that the IFAS' establishment is an ideal tool to support the socioeconomic development of Central Asian countries.