Principle and Values

The vision behind the Blue Peace Central Asia initiative is based on:

•  water is a major enabling factor for the regional sustainable socio-economic development, stability and peace, and a strong contributor to the region’s resilience to crises;
•  it is time to move from national considerations, acknowledging the "costs of inaction" caused by insufficient cooperation (estimated to over 4.5 billion USD loss per year for Central Asia), to a basin perspective of "sharing the benefits of joint action" (estimated potential of an increase of up to 11.5% of regional GDP).
  
•  Efficient use of water is critical on the whole value chain of the resource to address challenges at river basin level.
  
• Capitalizing on existing bilateral agreements to build robust, holistic and fair river basin agreements. All riparian stakeholders carry this responsibility.

The conversation needs to be carried beyond the only water sector and raised to the level of the decision-makers. Having a coherent approach between the development partners, including international financing institutions (IFIs), is essential. This change to a constructive mind-set shall help the governments of the region face with more serenity the social, demographic and climate change challenges in a cooperative rather than a conflicting attitude for more sustainable answers.

A clear regional joint and equitable management of the shared water and other natural resources, including rights and responsibilities, guiding the balance between investments and benefits, and focusing on a common security based on legitimate expectations of each country, is the success factor for the region’s sustainable development.