Four-member team to attend UN water conference

The first UN Water Conference in almost five decades begins in New York Wednesday to deal with water-related challenges — an event of crucial importance to Pakistan, which is listed on top of countries battling water scarcity.

Pakistan will be represented by a four-member delegation, including Hassan Nasir Jamy, secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources.

Co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan, the three-day conference is being portrayed by UN experts as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to accelerate progress towards universal access to safe water and sanitation by 2030.

It also marks the halfway point through the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, adopted by the UN General Assembly on World Water Day – 22 March 2018 – to help put a greater focus on water

 “The conference will be an occasion to unite the global community to take action and address the broad challenges surrounding water,” according to Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and the Secretary-General of the conference.

A main outcome of the Conference will be a Water Action Agenda that will capture the ambitious new commitments from Member States and other stakeholders, he said.

The Conference is set to bring together Heads of State and Government, Ministers, and other high-level representatives of governments and the UN system.