Kazakhstan to Benefit from Irrigation Water Allocation Under Central Asia’s Regional Agreement

Kazakhstan is set to receive 11 billion cubic meters of irrigation water by April 2025, as part of an agreement made during the Interstate Water Management Coordination Commission meeting in Dushanbe.

The meeting brought together water management officials from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, The Caspian Post reports, citing The Times of Central Asia.

Discussions focused on managing water resources in the Syr Darya and Amu Darya River basins.

The allocated volume will flow into the Shardara Reservoir in Kazakhstan’s Turkestan region via the Syr Darya River. Of this total, 1.6 billion cubic meters will be directed to the Aral Sea to support its ecosystem.

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, stated that the agreement will help the country secure sufficient irrigation water for the upcoming agricultural season while sustaining ecosystems in southern Kazakhstan.

Nurzhigitov highlighted the stark contrast between the south and other parts of the country:

“There are no large-scale floods in the south as there are in the west and north. In the summer, the demand for irrigation water is extremely high. That’s why we take a different approach to water management in the south, where water diplomacy is a priority. Through negotiations, we ensured an uninterrupted water supply to the region last year. We continue to resolve water distribution and transboundary water protection issues in cooperation with our Central Asian colleagues.”

Kazakhstan’s agriculture, particularly in its arid southern regions, depends heavily on irrigation water from upstream Central Asian neighbors. As a result, regional water management remains a crucial factor in both economic and political relations among the countries of Central Asia.