Kazakhstan, China discuss protection and use of transborder rivers

    Last week Beijing hosted a meeting of Kazakh Ambassador to China Shakhrat Nuryshev and Deputy Minister of Water Resources of China, Jiao Yong, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry has said.
    They discussed cooperation in the area of water resources and joint measures for the draft agreement between Kazakhstan and China on apportioning water in transborder rivers.
    The two sides noted the efforts of the Joint Commission for the Protection and Use of Transborder Rivers of Kazakhstan and China.
    ]During 2003-2015, 12 meetings of the Commission were held, following which, important agreements were reached.
    Work has been launched on the draft agreement on the apportioning of water on transborder rivers between Kazakhstan and the PRC, which is being developed by a special working group that was established in 2014.
    The first meeting of experts was held in March 2015 in Almaty. It was agreed to hold the second meeting of experts on the draft agreement in September 2015 in Beijing.
    Nuryshev noted the main goal of joint efforts to regulate the transborder rivers of Kazakhstan and China is the implementation of the agreements reached between the heads of the two states.
    The ambassador said, "These issues are under special supervision and are regularly discussed during high-level meetings".
    Jiao Yong stressed China is willing to further strengthen interaction with Kazakhstan in this area within the two states’ comprehensive strategic partnership, according to Akipress.