On November 17, 2021, a press conference was held in Bishkek presenting research achievements and sharing experience of transnational and cross-sectoral cooperation in clean drinking water projects "Distributed water purification station system for drinking water safety in rural regions of Kyrgyzstan" in Kyrgyzstan. It was jointly organized by Kyrgyzstan Housing and Utilities Construction Agency, Kyrgyzstan Drinking Water Supply and Drainage Development Agency and the Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia (RCEECA) (Bishkek).

Central and local government of Kyrgyzstan, National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan, Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, local user representatives and more than 10 local media journalists attended the press conference, while Chinese participants attended the press conference online. The latest progress of the water purification project funded by ANSO, and the experience videos and letters of thanks sent by some beneficiaries were displayed at the press conference. The press conference was hosted by Momunov Sayidin, Director of Kyrgyz Drinking Water Supply and Drainage Development Agency.

Toktoshev Askarbek, advisor to the Director General of the Housing and Utilities Construction Agency of Kyrgyzstan, highly appreciated the achievement of the China-Kyrgyzstan cooperation project on drinking water. He said that only 30% of around 1800 rural settlements in Kyrgyzstan have achieved centralized water supply, which seriously threatens the drinking water safety of rural residents. At present, the installation of clean water devices has been completed and served 10 villages, allowing rural residents to drink high-quality drinking water in full compliance with health standards.

Dzhumataev Murat, President of National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan, reviewed the cooperation in science and technology between Kyrgyz and Chinese academy of sciences and emphasized that the rich experience of Chinese Academy of Sciences would be very useful for the follow-up research in the field of ecology and environment in Kyrgyzstan. The cooperation between the two academies had a positive effect on the relationship between the two countries. He expressed that rural drinking water safety is a matter of the welfare of the majority of farmers, so that farmers can drink safe water is a real project of people's livelihood, in which the drinking water safety guarantee project installed successful water purification stations in remote areas of rural areas, which is a model of scientific and technological cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and China. He hoped to continue to strengthen the cooperation with CAS and to develop deeper cooperation on the platform of "One Belt One Road" International Scientific Organization Alliance (ANSO).

On behalf of Ambassador Du Dewen, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, Li Baojie said that "Dostuk" means "friendship" in Kyrgyz language, and the Chinese side first established a water treatment system in Dostuk town, and Ambassador Du himself visited the water purification station. It has so far been extended nationwide and has made an outstanding contribution to the provision of safe and clean drinking water to the local people. The provision of clean drinking water to remote villages is also an important part of China's poverty alleviation efforts.  Chinese government has overcome many difficulties to achieve historic success in solving this problem. Further cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan in technical experiments and demonstrations will be very helpful in improving the security of drinking water in Kyrgyz villages.

Cao Jinghua, Executive Director of the ANSO Secretariat, said that the achievement gained by the multinational project team was remarkable, given that the global epidemic was still severe. He pointed out that the distributed water purification program and the centralized water supply program for cities and towns are significantly complementary and irreplaceable. He suggested that the pilot demonstration in rural areas should continue to expand the scope of application to solve the problem of drinking water safety in more villages in need. It should appropriately adopt a market-oriented mechanism to attract competitive commercial enterprises to join the construction, operation and maintenance through the government's leadership, so as to achieve large-scale operation, reduce costs and guarantee sustainable development. It should also actively include the work into the framework of Sino-Kyrgyz intergovernmental cooperation and strive for more support from international resources. Finally, he expressed his gratitude to the Kyrgyz Republic for its support to ANSO and hoped that ANSO and the Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences would develop together and contribute to the well-being of people in Central Asia and to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Professor Chen Xi, Secretary of the Party group of Xinjiang branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of RCEECA, introduced the basis and progress of early cooperation of drinking water safety project at the press conference, aiming to provide solutions and technical demonstration for drinking water supply in remote rural areas of Kyrgyzstan, and hoped that Bishkek branch would establish intelligent, low-cost, high efficiency and small-sized centralized water supply complete sets, which advanced monitoring technology can bring healthy and clean drinking water to the people in Kyrgyzstan.

Professor Li Yaoming, Chinese director of RCEECA Bishkek and head of the ANSO project, systematically introduced the relevant situation of the international scientific and technological cooperation project on drinking water safety, and put forward the planning and suggestions for the follow-up development of the project. Alamanov Salamat, the project leader of Kyrgyzstan, introduced the complete water supply unit at the press conference, emphasizing that the complete water supply unit installed in 11 rural settlements under the support of ANSO and Kyrgyz drinking water supply and Drainage Development Bureau has guaranteed the benefits of more than 15000 people. At the press conference, representatives and experts of all parties answered questions from media reporters on the spot.

In addition, members of Parliament Adyl Zhunus Uulu and local government representatives also attended the press conference. Besides, the representatives of the ANSO Secretariat and relevant personnel of Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia attended the conference online.

The press conference was followed by a field trip to visited the water purification station in Dostuk by a group of journalists from the local media.

Speech by Cao Jinghua, executive director of ANSO Secretariat

Speech by Chen Xi

Participating Leaders from Kyrgyzstan

visit the water purification station

The media delegation visited the water purification station and interviewed project experts