The delegation of Turkmenistan participated in the first meeting of the coordination Committee of the EU–Central Asia Working group on environment and climate change (CAWGECC) of the WECOOP project, which was held online today. 

The EU–Central Asia cooperation platform for environment and water protection was established in 2009 with Italy as the lead country. And in October 2019, the EU resumed the project "European Union-Central Asia: cooperation in water, environment and climate change" (WECOOP). It aims to improve environmental, climate and water policies in Central Asia by bringing them closer to EU standards, as well as to encourage green investment in relevant economic sectors to help achieve tangible reductions in human-caused pollution, including carbon dioxide emissions. 

The first meeting of the coordination Committee of the EU–CA Working group on environment and climate change was attended by heads of departments of the European Commission's Directorate General for environment, representatives of the Italian Ministry of environment, land and marine resources, the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan, as well as responsible specialists from Central Asian countries on environmental protection and climate change. The Turkmen delegation was represented by specialists from the Ministry of agriculture and environmental protection, the State Committee on water resources and the Ministry of foreign Affairs.

According to the foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan, the meeting reviewed the results of the work done after the 9th meeting of CAWGECC and discussed the progress of the work program of CAWGECC and work Plan of the project WECOOP given the current crisis situation due to the pandemic coronavirus. The participants also considered the priorities of the 10th session of the CAWGECC, scheduled for the spring of 2021 in Almaty.

As a result of the meeting, the date and agenda of the meeting of the coordinating Committee of the EU-CA Working group on environment and climate change were agreed in the format of a personal meeting.