UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

The International Conference

„Water Unites – Strengthening Regional Cooperation on Water Management in Central Asia“,

Almaty, Kazakhstan, 17-18 November 2008

INFORMATION FOR CENTRAL ASIAN PARTICIPANTS

General information

1. The Conference will take place 17-18 November 2008. It is organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Government of Germany, the Executive Committee for the International Fund for the Saving of the Aral Sea (EC-IFAS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and hosted by the Kazakh Executive Board of IFAS and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Conference is a follow-up to the Berlin Conference “Water Unites” 1 April 2008, where the “Berlin Water Process” was launched by German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

2. The Conference will start at 09.00 and will close 17.30 on 17 November. On 18 November the sessions will begin at 09.00 and end at 14.00. The Conference will take place in the Mayor´s office in Almaty, Ploshchad Respubliki 4, Central Entrance.

Organisers and contacts

5. In the UNECE Secretariat, responsible for the organization of the Conference are Regional Advisers Mr Bo Libert (tel: +4122 917 2396; fax: +4122 917 0621; mail: ) and Mr Marton Krasznai (tel: +4122 917 2396; fax: +4122 917 2760; mail: ).

6. In Kazakhstan, the main organization responsible is the Executive Board of IFAS. The Deputy Director Mr Medet Ospanov is responsible for the organization of the Conference (tel: +7727 250 1990; fax: +7727 250 7717; e-mail: and ).

7. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan provide visa support and is responsible for meeting the heads of delegations from Central Asia at the Almaty airport and for transport between the hotel Almaty and the Conference venue in the morning and afternoons. Contact person is Gulmira Sultanali (tel: +77172 720350; fax: +77172 720367; e-mail: ).

Booking airplane tickets and paying out UN per diems

8. Those participants, the travel expenses of who are covered by the UNECE (as indicated in the letter of invitation) are kindly asked to contact the local UNDP office for obtaining their ticket and pre-payment of DSAs. Please note that rooms will be booked for all funded participants in Hotel Almaty, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Funded participants are responsible to pay these rooms. If you will solve your accommodation in another way, please contact Mr Medet Ospanov.

9. The contact persons in these offices are:

Dushanbe, Tajikistan:

Sukhrob Khojimatov or Shahlo Nazirova

UNDP, Tajikistan

Tel: +992 (47) 441 06 41 (ext. 123)

Mobile: +992 (918) 93 75 04

E-mail: ,

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan:

Aynur Mukhamedgalieva

Finance Manager a.i.

UNDP Kyrgyz Republic

Tel: 996 (312) 611213, 611211 (ext. 168)

email:

Tashkent, Uzbekistan:

Shavkat Muminov

UNDP Uzbekistan

tel: +99871 1203450

e-mail:

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan:

Jahan Saparmamedova

Executive Assistant,

UNDP Turkmenistan

Tel: 993 12 350225

Email:

Astana, Kazakhstan:

Sholpan Jandayeva

UNDP Kazakhstan

+7 7172 59 25 50 (ext. 2205)

e-mail:

Working language

10. Simultaneous translation will be available between the two working languages Russian and English.

Meeting documents

11. In those cases when documents will be made available to the organisers, they will be distributed to registered Conference participants in advance of the Conference. All documents will be made available upon arrival of the participants to the Conference.

12. Participants wanting to distribute documents during the Conference are requested to contact Mr Bo Libert. Tables for participants to make brochures and reports available will be found outside the Conference room.

Registration

13. Participants are requested to register themselves upon arrival to the Conference venue 08.30-09.00 17 November.

Visa support

14. If you need a visa, please send the following information to Ms Gulmira Sultanali (contact coordinates above), copy Mr Bo Libert and .

1. Full name
2. Year, day and place of birth
3. Passport number
4. Time of validity of the passport
5. Time for arrival and departure from Kazakhstan

15. On the basis of this information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan will inform its embassies and international airports in Astana and Almaty. Visa will be issued for Conference participants without consular fees on the same day as the visa application.

Hotel accommodation

16. A block reservation has been made at Hotel Almaty: Almaty, Ul Karanbai Batyra 85 (tel. +7727 2720070, 2720047; fax: 2720080; e-mail: ). If participants wish to stay at this hotel, please contact Mr Medet Ospanov (copy Mr Bo Libert) and indicate day of arrival and departure and whether you would like to stay in a renovated room (discounted price 130 USD) or an unrenovated room (100 USD).

15. Please inform the organizers (Mr Ospanov, cc Mr Libert) on all changes made in your plans, at least 48 hours before arrival.

Meals and reception

17. Coffee breaks and lunches will be served at the conference venue the 17th and 18th.

18. The General Consul of Germany in Almaty will host a concert and a reception in the evening of the 17th November. The concert will start at 18.00 and bus transport will be available from the Conference venue. The venue of the concert and reception is "Kurmangasy Konservatorium", Prospekt Ablylaj chana 90

Local transportation

19. The Hotel is 30-40 minutes drive from Almaty International Airport. There are taxis available at the airport at 1,500-2,000 KZT.

20. There will be transport available between hotel Almaty and the Conference venue in the morning 17th and 18th, and return in the evening of 17th and after lunch the 18th.

21. Please note that in Kazakhstan, there are many private vehicles offer taxi services and they can be easily stopped at any point at the city’s roads. However, for security reasons we recommend that you use official taxi companies and registered and marked taxi vehicles, which can be arranged for you by the hotel.

Currency and Exchange Offices

22. Kazakhstan’s official currency is Kazakh Tenge (KZT), and the UN rate in October 2008 is about 1 USD=121 KZT

23. Payments can be only made in Kazakh Tenge, Currency Exchange offices are available in many places in the city. Credit cards are accepted in most stores, restaurants, bars, but we would encourage you not to use them in the city, unless absolutely necessary.

Weather

24. Average temperature for November in Almaty is plus 2 degrees Celsius.

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