Report of the Regional Intergovernmental Meeting to Initiate the Establishment of a Central Asian Fisheries Organization

The Regional Intergovernmental Meeting to Initiate the Establishment of a Central Asian Fisheries Organization (Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 10-12 November 2008) was convened at the invitation of the Government of Tajikistan. FAO provided technical assistance to the meeting. The meeting aimed to bring together responsible authorities for capture fisheries and aquaculture from the wider Central Asian region to discuss major regional fisheries and aquaculture problems and issues, and to discuss a proposal for the establishment of a regional fishery and aquaculture arrangement (network or regional commission), taking into consideration existing programmes, networks and available institutional capacity in fisheries and related sectors. The meeting was attended by delegations of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. The conclusions from the meeting are the following: [1] A regional fisheries and aquaculture arrangement should be financially sustainable, pragmatic, flexible, non-bureaucratic and simple to manage. [2] While preferences for certain regional arrangements (specifically art. 6 and art. 14 under the FAO constitution and an intergovernmental organization) were indicated, the meeting agreed that more time was needed to consider all the information. In particular, some delegations requested more time to discuss the various options with competent national authorities. [3] The name of the future regional arrangement should reflect its regional scope and objectives, being Central Asia and Caucasus region and both inland capture fisheries and aquaculture development and management. [4] Most delegations preferred a regional arrangement open to all countries concerned, because of the transboundary nature of water bodies and related fish stocks in the region, among other reasons.