On 22 March 2009, the United Nations information office (UNO) in Tashkent, together with a local network of environmental journalists and the Tashkent-based non-governmental organization (NGO) “Habitat,” organized an event to mark World Water Day. The event, held in the ECO Cinema-Hall, focused on trans-boundary waters, an issue that tops the agenda of many countries in the world, including that of Uzbekistan.

According to UN sources, almost 40% of the world’s people live in river and lake basins shared by two or more countries, with 263 trans-boundary basins within the territory of 145 states. 300 international water agreements reached so far confirm a common desire to manage limited water resources in a peaceful and more balanced way. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed in his message on World Water Day, “while the potential exists for water to act as a catalyst for conflict between States and communities, precedent suggests that the opposite is actually what happens. Cooperation, not conflict, is the most common response by people facing competing demands.”

The film “Water” that was shown during the ECO Cinema-Hall gathering, illustrates regional cooperation of this kind with the example of the Ferghana Project on Integrated Water Management. The Uzbek delegation presented this project at the recent World Water Forum in Istanbul as a best practice of solving the issue of trans-boundary waters at a regional level.

The Ferghana Project was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and is being implemented by the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia, the International Water Management Institute in partnership with local water management organizations and NGOs.  It aims to improve and reorganize water management in Ferghana valley, which is shared between Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. With over 10 million people, the valley is the most densely populated area in Central Asia. Its livelihood is highly dependent on water. Yet, the state boundaries between these three countries make trans-border management of vital water resources problematic and are a cause of constant internal and interstate disputes.

As chief advisor Nazir Mirzaev noted, the project assisted in developing and enforcing water resource management policies and mechanisms at the regional level. The main challenge was to ensure reliable, equal and efficient water delivery by introducing demand-oriented, transparent water allocation mechanisms among water users and the countries. All stakeholders, including farmers, were brought together to make sure that their varied needs and interests were taken into account and, more importantly, responsibilities were shared.  “A farmer, who used a spade to solve the problem of sharing water in irrigation season, has now become a thing of the past,” says Mr. Mirzaev. “The farmers have learned to settle their disagreements at a negotiation table”.  

Other speakers invited to the ECO Cinema-Hall briefed journalists on Central Asian sub-regional events that took place within the recent World Water Forum.  CAWater-Info, the first Central Asian knowledge portal on water and environmental issues, was also introduced to encourage greater use of its vast resources. 

On 1 November a Model UN conference was held at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Tashkent. The topic for this conference was "Children in conflict zones: emerging challenges and priorities for action in the XXI century" and it was organized jointly with the United Nations office in Tashkent.  The participants came from several universities in Tashkent and they represented 42 countries during the conference.  The students displayed their speaking, writing and debating skills during the conference and overall found the experience rewarding and educational.

A reception was held in Tashkent on 24 October to celebrate United Nations Day. Guests included Government officials, Parliament members, representatives of the diplomatic corps, the donor community, civil society organizations, the mass media, and the UN System. The acting UN Resident Coordinator addressed the guests, focusing on the UN’s unique and indispensable role in global affairs and its 16-year long collaboration with Uzbekistan.

At the reception, a photo slide show about the UN System in Uzbekistan was unveiled, along with an exhibition of UN publications in English, Uzbek and Russian. Arranged in an agency-based order, the slide show served as a gateway to the UN in the country, revealing in an easily understandable way the diversity and scope of the UN’s support to Uzbekistan.

Other events for UN Day included the international photo biennale on the theme “Youth and Time”, a Model UN conference for university students, lectures and presentations at schools and universities about the UN its partnership with Uzbekistan.

The United Nations Office in Uzbekistan announced the winners of a poster contest held from October through December 2007 with the theme "UN Contribution to Human Development through the Language of Contemporary Design."

The contest was co-sponsored by the UN Development Programme in Uzbekistan, the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia and the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan and was open to both professional and amateur artists and designers from Uzbekistan.

The objective of the contest was to promote the contributions of the United Nations to human development through the design of campaign posters.

A jury made up of well-known graphic designers and experts recognized in the field of art and visual communication took on the difficult task of choosing the best works from over one hundred entries.

The first prize was awarded to Artur Kan for the poster entitled "Fill in life with colour". Second prize was shared by Alexander Barkovskiy for his series of posters on human development and Makhbuba Bakhramova for the poster entitled "...Was very young". Third prize went to Kamila Galitskaya for the poster entitled "In captivity", from her series of posters on AIDS and drug abuse.

"I was positively surprised by the variety and the quality of entries," said Anna Paolini, UNESCO Representative in Uzbekistan and chair of the jury. "While a lot of the entries focused on anti-AIDS and anti-smoking campaigns, the one chosen by the jury got a real consensus of being the most representative of the theme and also the most innovative in its artistic and cultural expressions."