During the conversation, the efforts of the AFD to support ongoing reforms and achieve key indicators provided for in the Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy were highly appreciated.

Thus, since the start of its activities in Uzbekistan in 2015, the agency has provided preferential loans in the amount of €1.2 billion to priority areas for Uzbekistan – electricity, modernization of water infrastructure, development of a green economy, adaptation and mitigation of climate change. In particular, as part of supporting the implementation of energy reforms to ensure low-carbon development, the agency issued a loan of €150 million for a period of 20 years.

In this context, Vincent Caupin very positively assessed the current large-scale transformations of the water sector of Uzbekistan, the direction towards modernizing infrastructure and the widespread dissemination of water-saving technologies in the country’s agricultural sector.

Regarding issues of regional cooperation in the water and energy sector, the parties mutually noted the need to further strengthen cooperation and increase the efficiency of regional mechanisms and institutions in Central Asia. In this vein, the central role of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and its institutions, such as the Interstate Coordination Water Commission of Central Asia and the Interstate Commission for Sustainable Development, were confirmed.

In conclusion, an agreement was reached to organize a number of events in order to increase awareness of the scientific and expert community of Central Asia with the accumulated experience and knowledge of France and other European countries in the field of transboundary water resources management.

It should be recalled that in May last year, the AFD Director General, Rémi Rioux, as part of his visit to Uzbekistan, visited IICAS, where he took part in a joint international conference on the topic “A closer look at water in Central Asia”, dedicated to the issues of efficient and rational use of water resources in Central Asia, preventing the negative consequences of climate change, introducing innovative knowledge and successful experience in the process of solving these problems.