There were adopted measures to improve water management in the Republic of Uzbekistan

On April 3, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted the Resolution “On Measures for further Improvement of the procedure for accounting, reporting and monitoring of water resources in water use and its management” No.174 (the “Resolution No.174”)

This document approved the Regulation “On procedures for accounting, reporting and monitoring of water resources in water Use and water consumption”, which provides for the following amendments:

• transparent water accounting system for water use and water consumption;
• introduction of modern informative communication technologies in water use and water consumption;
• monitoring of water resources.

The Resolution No.174 will come into force from 1 October 2021.

The next step on the way to improving water management was the adoption of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “On measures to expand public-private partnership on the rational use of water resources and the use of water facilities” No.199 dated 10 April 2021 (the “Resolution No.199”).

In accordance with the Resolution No.199, the followings were approved:

• membership of the republican working group on mitigating the expected negative impact of water scarcity in the irrigation season 2021 and improving land reclamation (the “Working group”);
• limits of water abstraction for irrigation of agricultural crops in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and regions for the period March-September 2021 developed by the Ministry of Waters Resources;
• membership of the Working Group on the transfer, water facilities to private partners on the basis of private-public partnership and the study of the investment potential of a private partner (the “Working Group on PPPs”).

On 31 March 2021 the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a five-year Regional Project on Water and Environment in Uzbekistan. The project is aimed at strengthening regional cooperation between the five Central Asian countries and Afghanistan on the management of shared water resources of the Syr-darya and Amu Darya basins.

The Resolution of the President “On the approval of the Strategy for water management and irrigation development in the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2021-2023” No.ПП-5005 dated on 24 February 2021 (the “Resolution No.ПП-5005”) provides for the following reforms in this sector:

• until 1 October 2021, a zero rate of customs duty is set for the import of ethylene polymers (TN VED code 3901) and propylene polymers (TN VED code 3902);
• measures will be taken to increase the share of polyethylene products produced in the country and sold on the domestic market through exchange trades, by reducing their export by 40 thousand tons;
• foreign producers of polyethylene and polypropylene products will be invited to take part in exchange trading;
• the share of canals with concrete pavements will be increased;
• modernization of technical facilities and irrigation equipment;
• expansion of land with water-saving irrigation technology;
• implementing by 1 July 2021 a phased launch of the automated inter-ministerial water information system;