BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

TAJIKISTAN: WATER IS WEAPON IN UZBEK ELECTRICITY TALKS
1/21/09

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Tajikistan is threatening to limit the downstream supply of water to Uzbekistan after the two countries failed to agree on a transit rate for Turkmen electricity crossing Uzbek territory into Tajikistan.

Tajik Minister of Foreign Affairs Khamrokhon Zarifi said on January 21 that the country’s reservoirs needed to operate at full capacity to compensate for the lack of Turkmen electricity in the national power grid.

"The forced use of large volumes of water in the reservoirs can lead to shortages of water in lower countries," CA-news.org reported Zarifi as saying.

Uzbekistan is demanding 10 percent of the $0.03 per kilowatt paid by Tajikistan to Turkmenistan. The Caspian Sea state was contracted to deliver 1.3 billion kilowatts of electricity to Tajikistan for December 2008-January 2009.

Turkmenistan suspended electricity exports during transit negotiations between the Tajiks and Uzbeks. In the absence of an agreement, the exports have not been resumed.

Posted January 21, 2009 © Eurasianet
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