On 16th June 2018, SFG President Dr Sundeep Waslekar addressed the Political Affairs Committee of the Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP)-European Union (EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) at the European Parliament in Brussels, via videoconference on the subject of water governance as a source of conflict prevention. Dr Waslekar discussed SFG’s 2017 publication Water Cooperation Quotient, with a specific emphasis on the excellent examples of active water cooperation in the West African and European Basins. He discussed the linkage between cooperation over water resources and peace, as well as the growing need to have water declared as a strategic asset of humanity. The meeting was conducted in the run up to the 35th ACP-EU Assembly, to be held 18-20 June 2018, in Brussels, between members of the European Parliament and the parliament of 78 countries across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Topics for the meeting will include migration, demographic growth, ACP-EU relations post-Cotonou and the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.

The second joint meeting of the Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management and the Working Group on Monitoring and Assessment under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Water Convention was held from 28 to 30 May 2018 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. SFG Senior Programme Manager Anumita Raj attended the meeting. The meeting was intended to discuss the lessons learnt from the results of the reporting under the UNECE Water Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goal’s indicator 6.5.2. Other objectives of the meeting included discussion the proposed programme of work for the period of 2019-2021 under the Convention and discuss the proposed agenda for the next Meeting of the Parties to the Convention to be held in Astana in October 2018. During the meeting, Chad’s accession to the UNECE Water Convention was celebrated.  

The European External Action Service and the European Commission organised a meeting on "Water, Development and Peace" in Brussels on 7th June 2018. Major stakeholders from Europe including water experts and diplomats of EU member States and as well as representatives of EU institutions, international organisations, think-tanks and civil society attended the meeting. SFG Senior Research Manager Diana Philip also participated in the same. The meeting was called to discuss the linkages between water, peace and development and how best to update the Council Conclusions of 2013 on EU water diplomacy. The discussion focused on how EU could address the challenges relating to water security at the global level. In this regard the report of the Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace and its recommendations primarily on protection of water infrastructure as well as the role of creative financing was discussed. Water Cooperation Quotient 2017 was also presented to the stakeholders at the meeting.