Tajik-Uzbek Water Dispute Rages on

Government heads from the Eurasian Economic Community, Eurasec, member states will meet in Astana on April 18. At a meeting with Eurasec secretary-general Grigory Rapota in Dushanbe on March 30, Tajik prime minister Akil Akilov said that despite mounting pressure from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan will stand firm in its stance on regional water use at the meeting and will try to establish an independent commission to solve the ongoing dispute between the two neighbours. Tajikistan is upstream on the rivers it shares with Uzbekistan, which is against new hydroelectric power stations being built on its neighbour’s territory.