DUSHANBE, June 5, 2015, Asia-Plus - UN spokesman, Mr. Stephane Dujarric, said today that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon will visit Central Asia’s nations to attend a series of international conferences and meet with top officials of five Central Asian countries.

On Tuesday June 9, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon will arrive in Tajikistan, where he will attend the opening ceremony of the High-Level International Conference on the implementation of the International Decade.

While in Tajikistan, Ban will also meet with President Emomali Rahmon and visit Lake Sarez, UN spokesman noted.

Lake Sarez is a natural wonder of Tajikistan, containing 17 billion cubic meters of one of Central Asia’s scarcest commodities — water.  Tajik leaders are now searching for a way to unlock the lake’s economic potential.

The lake was created in the early 20th century, when an earthquake touched off a massive landslide in the Bartang Valley in the Pamir Mountains, creating a natural dam across the Murgab River.  The lake extends for over 60 kilometers and in some spots is over 500 meters deep.

We will recall that Tajik power engineering specialists released an open letter to President Emomali Rahmon on June 2 asking to raise the Lake Sarez problem at the high-level international conference on the implementation of the International Decade for Action, “Water for Life”, 2005-2015 that will take place in Dushanbe from June 9-11.

They, in particular, note that construction of the hydroelectric power plant at Lake Sarez with use of the Usoy blockage as a natural dam would allow securing the population of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan against Lake Sarez’s breakthrough.

On June 10, the secretary-general will visit Kazakhstan, where he will participate in the Fifth Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and will also meet with top officials of the country, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Karim Massimov.

Ban will then travel to Kyrgyzstan, where on Thursday, he will attend the opening of the International Conference on “Development of Parliamentarianism.”  He will also hold talks with President Almazbek Atambayev, Prime Minister Temir Sariyev and the Speaker of Parliament, Asilbek Jeenbekov, and visit the city of Osh, where he will meet with civil society representatives and local authorities.

On Friday, the secretary-general will visit Uzbekistan, where he will meet with the country''s top officials, including President Islam Karimov and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.

The secretary-general''s final stop in Central Asia will be Turkmenistan, where he will hold meetings with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and other senior officials and will also address faculty and students at the International University for Humanities and Development there.