A regular meeting of the Club of Young Experts of the Senate of the Parliament was held under the chairmanship of Maulen Ashimbaev. Its participants discussed issues of water security and voiced proposals for improving the management of water reserves. The invited guest was the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Zulfiya Suleimenova.
Opening the meeting of the Club, the Chairman of the Senate emphasized that the shortage of water and the depletion of this natural resource is one of the global challenges in the coming period.
“The problem of water supply is very relevant for Central Asia and our country in particular. A number of regions of Kazakhstan are experiencing a serious need for water. At the same time, the development of the national economy, agriculture, and the industrial complex largely depends on the country's water supply,” the Senate Speaker emphasized.
In addition, the Chairman of the Senate noted the urgent problem of water sharing with neighboring states, as well as the joint use of transboundary rivers.
“The President of the country Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokayev instructed to develop a draft of a new Water Code to solve the issues related to water security. The current Water Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan was adopted in 2003. Since then, it has been modified more than 70 times. This document considers water, first of all, as a factor of production, while not considering the issues of water saving, stimulating the economical use of water. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and the deputies in the coming period are faced with the task of developing a new Water Code, which would propose new, modern approaches to water policy,” Maulen Ashimbaev noted.
In particular, according to the Chairman of the Chamber, it is necessary to provide for systemic norms that stimulate efficient water consumption by both citizens and agrarians and enterprises. Another important direction should be the creation of a closed cycle of water use and purification at industrial enterprises and in the housing and communal sector.
For her part, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Zulfiya Suleimenova thanked the meeting participants for their comprehensive approach to the problems of the water industry and a detailed analysis of the current situation with water supply in the country.
The Minister also stressed the importance of joint work of the state with the expert community in the development of new ideas and expressed readiness for cooperation on certain issues.
In turn, the members of the Young Experts Club voiced a number of proposals and recommendations regarding sustainable development and the application of the concept in practice, socio-economic problems and ecosystem conservation, international experience in managing climate risks and other topical issues of water security.
(Press service of the Senate, 74-72-27. Courtesy of N. Baibulin)
