AN UNUSUAL trade between three desperate countries in the central Asian region
has meant that water will be bartered for
gas and coal. The republics of
Kyrgyzstan) Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
entered into an agreement in the first
week of April to improve cross border
deliveries of water and energy.
The accord seeks to mitigate the sufferings of these countries which until
recently were part of the erstwhile Soviet Union. What were national resources
earlier have now become properties of
individual nations, forcing the issue of
how to share them to come out in the
open. Kyrgyzstan has agreed to guarantee supplies of hydroelectricity and
water - to neighbours Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan - in return for the Uzbek
gas and Kazakh coal. Said Zhenishbek
Bekbolotov, Kyrgyzstan's minister for
water resources, "Water is a commodity.
Any natural resource that is used should
be paid for." The accord, however, falls
short of creating a pricing mechanism
for the various commodities.
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