The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan; and the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia, launched “Smart Waters,” a new five-year water management project on April 17, 2017 in Tashkent. U.S. Ambassador, Pamela Spratlen, provided opening remarks at the event, which brought together over fifty representatives from water management organizations, academia, members of parliament, nongovernment organizations, and the international donor community. Smart Waters is a regional USAID program designed to improve water management training systems for professionals, academics, researchers, and policy-makers among the countries of Aral Sea basin. The program’s networking and capacity building activities will help improve domestic and regional water management and result in better cross-border cooperation and less water waste in Uzbekistan and Central Asia.
