New steps towards a financial strategy for the UfM Water Agenda

Hosted by the OECD, the UfM organised the second Task Force meeting on Financial Strategy on water issues for enhancing investment and sustainable development in the Mediterranean

Paris, 9 July 2018.  The Mediterranean region is one of the most water-scarce areas in the world with more than more than 180 million people being considered water poor. Promoting regional partnerships and creating sustainable cooperation mechanisms on water use is needed to reverse this downward spiral. In line with the mandate given by the UfM Ministers for Water (April 2017) to develop the UfM Water Agenda and a Financial Strategy and the decision of the 8th Water Expert Group to create a Task Force, the UfM organised the second meeting of the Water Financing Task Force, hosted by the OECD Secretariat in Paris on 9 July 2018.

This Second Meeting aimed to review the first draft of the Financial Strategy document, agree on its final structure and populate its content. To inform the work of the participants, the meeting started with a presentation of the results of the questionnaires distributed by the UfM in May 2018 to UfM member states and financial partners. The participants agreed on the next steps for the development of the Financial Strategy. Further contributions to be prepared by Task Force members to support the development of the Financial Strategy were also discussed.

The meeting was co-chaired by the European Commission and Jordan and hosted by Mr Xavier Leflaive, Head of the Water Team at the OECD and Mr Miguel García-Herraiz Roobaert, the UfM Deputy Secretary General for Water, Environment and Blue Economy. The meeting was facilitated by Mr Almotaz Abadi, Managing Director at the UfM and Mr Roberto Martin, Adviser for the UfM.

In the concluding remarks Mr Abadi announced that the meeting had successfully achieved its objectives as the Representative of the member states, IFIs, and Development cooperation agencies agreed on the outline of the financial strategy and the main actions to be taken in order to expand on the strategy. The participants also agreed on a road map and a set of meetings in order to present the concept for endorsement at political level at the end of 2018.