On June 19, 2018, during the High Level International Conference on the Implementation of the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018 – 2028, the Financial Center for South-South Cooperation (FCSSC), with the government of Tajikistan, hosted the Forum on Water-Use Efficiency and Water Environmental Governance in Duschanbe. Mr. Khayrullo Ibodzoda, Minister of Environment, Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General of the United States and The representative of FCSSC, made remarks at the forum. There were more than 100 attendees, including Mr. Mahmadamin Mahmadaminov, Vice President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Mr. John Wu, Vice President and Director General of FCSSC, and his team, officials from the United Nations and the government of Tajikistan, and Chinese experts and scholars.
“When water scarcity becomes a common challenge for all humanity, how should we use emerging technologies to tackle this problem? Can we be optimistic about the prospect of water resources utilization?” said the representative of FCSSC He believed that “ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” Goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG6), had become a key goal for inter-country cooperation. FCSSC has also made great efforts in this field, including seeking with Chinese companies for experience in serving water resource PPP projects, looking for feasible models of water treatment and water environment control, focusing on water resources utilization and water environment control in the establishment of industrial parks. He added that “We organize this forum with the government of Tajikistan to brainstorm and realize collaborative innovation,”.
Mr. Liu thanked the guests for their attention to SDG 6 and hoped this forum contributed to solving water problems. He and Mr. Mahmadaminov specially thanked FCSSC for its contributions to the forum, and invite a FCSSC delegation to share the results of this forum at the High Level International Conference on the Implementation of the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018 – 2028, in UN New York Headquarters on July 19.
Mr. Ibodzoda made remarks on behalf of the government of Tajikistan. According to him, as the host of the high-level International Conference on the Implementation of the International Decade for Action "Water for Life," 2005-2015, Tajikistan is honored to make further contributions to “ensuring universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030”.
At the roundtable discussion, Mr. Lan Weiguang, Chief Scientist of Xiamen University, introduced water recycling, which means saving water by reducing water pollution to recycle sewage and waste water, decrease those discharged into rivers and cut down the demand for fresh water. Mr. Zhang Jinliang, President of Huanghe Survey, Planning and Design Co., Ltd. under the Ministry of Water Resources, presented China’s experience in water resources utilization; Mr. Li Haifeng, Executive Chairman and Vice President of Beijing Enterprises Water Group Limited (BEWG), shares his ideas on how to improve water and environment protection from the perspective of strategic cooperation between government authorities and private companies. Homidhon Rasulzod from the Ministry of Environment of Tajikistan and Johannes Cullmann from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also shared their experience in work concerning SDG6.
The participants actively asked speakers encouraging debate. The President of Tajikistan, at the dinner party after that, thanked all the participants for their contributions to this conference and stated that the government of Tajikistan, UN organizations and other relevant organizations would forge deep partnerships within the next ten years.
The High-Level International Conference on the Implementation of the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development,” 2018 – 2028, co-hosted by the UN and the government of Tajikistan, was held in the Office of the President of Tajikistan from June 20 to 21 and attracted participants from 127 countries. During the conference, the participants discussed the content of the high-level meeting hosted by the chairman of the 72nd Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 72) on World Water Day (March 22, 2018), emphasized water-related sustainable development goals, and focused on how to mobilize fiscal resources to help effectively promote water resource projects, how to enhance reasonable water resources utilization and water management capacity, how to apply modern technologies and innovation results, and so on.
