The President of Uzbekistan, by his resolution of June 21, 2017, approved the Framework Agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on conducting operations on Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia, signed on March 16, 2017 in Tashkent.
A fund was established at the request of the European Commission to deal with the legacy of Soviet-era uranium mining and processing in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajkistan and Uzbekistan. The fund finances projects to rehabilitate high-priority sites in the countries where it will operate.
The Office for Supervision of Geological Exploration of the Subsoil, Safe Work in Industry, Mining and Public Utilities Sector under the Cabinet of Ministers has been assigned as the authority responsible for the implementation of this international treaty.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is instructed to send a relevant notification on the implementation of the internal procedures by the Republic of Uzbekistan, necessary for the entry into force of the international treaty.
Central Asia served as an important source of uranium in the former Soviet Union. This led to a large amount of radioactive contaminated material from the mining industry being placed in mining waste dumps and tailing sites. Most of the mines were closed by 1995 but very little remediation was done.
