At the Kazakhstan Cultural Center in Beijing, a roundtable conference focused on sustainable development of water resources successfully concluded. Faced with global water scarcity and cross-border water governance challenges, officials and experts from China and Kazakhstan have gathered together to break away from the traditional bilateral cooperation framework, actively explore new multilateral water governance models, and inject new vitality into the collaborative governance of water resources in Central Asia.

Propose a new cooperation initiative

The core theme of this conference is sustainable water development and water initiatives, focusing on key areas such as cross-border water resource governance, application of water-saving technologies, and establishment of international cooperation mechanisms for in-depth discussions. Kazakhstan's Ambassador to China, Shahrat Nureshev, stated that water resource security is a global issue that requires concerted efforts from all countries. Due to the fact that most of the domestic water resources rely on overseas supply, water resource security is crucial to Kazakhstan's overall development. Therefore, the country has launched two important multilateral cooperation initiatives, one relying on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to build a water resource research platform and the other utilizing the United Nations framework to establish an international water organization.

Expand the multilateral governance framework

This meeting marks an advanced upgrade in water resources cooperation between China and Kazakhstan, with the focus of cooperation extending from traditional bilateral water use cooperation to international and multilateral water governance. The long-term neighborly cooperation and mutual trust foundation have made the water resources cooperation between the two countries more mature, and have also laid a solid foundation for upgrading the bilateral strategic partnership. Both parties unanimously agree to rely on the foundation of friendly cooperation, combine modern water conservancy technology, continuously innovate cross-border water resources cooperation models, and jointly build a stable and secure regional water ecosystem. Keywords: Cross border water resources, multilateral cooperation

Practical technical cooperation for implementation

The Chinese side actively shares mature experience and advanced technologies in water management, and plans to carry out practical cooperation with Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan in multiple fields, covering water-saving irrigation, digital control of water resources, utilization of recycled water resources, and drought risk monitoring. Accurately matching the water resource management needs of Kazakhstan with relevant technologies can effectively improve the efficiency of industrial and agricultural water use, and strengthen the ability to warn of extreme hydrological disasters. This cooperation also makes cross-border water governance a new growth point of ecological and technical cooperation under the the Belt and Road framework.Editor/Min Jing