DUSHANBE, May 20, 216, Asia-Plus – According to Kyrgyz MFA’s website, Kyrgyzstan has decided to freeze its participation in International Fund for Saving Aral Sea (IFAS).

Kyrgyz First Deputy Foreign Minister, Ms. Dinara Kemelova, reportedly noted this during the third High Level Political and Security Dialogue between the European Union and Central Asian countries that took place in Brussels on May 18.

She reportedly said that IFAS “doesn''t take into account aspects of hydropower and water consumption of the individual countries of the region.”

Reforms, repeatedly offered to the Fund by Kyrgyz party, have not been carried out. In this regard, Kyrgyzstan has made a decision to "freeze" its participation in the activities of IFAS and its bodies, the Kyrgyz MFA’s website noted.

The Kyrgyz side reportedly also noted that without full-scale reform of the Fund it doesn''t see prospects for the resumption of its participation in its activities.

In a statement delivered at the third High Level Political and Security Dialogue between the European Union and Central Asian countries, Ms. Kemelova also raised the issue of promotion of regional energy projects, including CASA-1000.

The International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) is an interstate organization established in 1992 to fund and credit joint regional environmental protection and research programs and projects aimed at saving the Aral Sea and improving the environmental situation in the areas affected by the disaster as well as solving regional socioeconomic problems.

On 20 March, 1997, a permanent executive and administrative body, the Executive Committee of IFAS (IFAS EC) was established in Tashkent, Uzbekistan with branches in all Central Asia’s nations.