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HRH Hassan bin Talal, Chairman of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation launched the SFG report “Water Cooperation for a Secure World”, in Amman on November 28, 2013. He presented the first copies of the report to HRH Princess Sumaya, President of the Royal Scientific Society and HE Helena Rietz, Swedish Ambassador to Jordan. The report has been prepared by Strategic Foresight Group on the basis of analysis of 205 shared river basins in 148 countries. The conference launching the report was co-hosted by the Strategic Foresight Group and the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan. The project is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). It is an important component of the Blue Peace initiative supported by the Swiss and Swedish Governments. The Conference was attended by Members of the Blue Peace High Level Group, several former ministers, serving and former Members of Parliament, serving and former senior government officials, water experts and eminent media persons from across the Middle East.
On the occasion of the launch, a joint Op-Ed article co-authored by HRH Prince Hassan and Dr Sundeep Waslekar, President of SFG was simultaneously published in more than 25 leading newspapers across the Middle East including Jordan Times (Jordan), The Daily Star (Lebanon), The Yemen Times (Yemen), Gulf News (UAE), Zaman (Turkey), Al Mada (Iraq), Al Iqtisad (Syria), Al Arab (pan Arab), Al Monitor (pan Middle East) and many others. Besides, several newspapers from outside the region, including the Atlantic Post (USA) and Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) carried the same Op-Ed.
In his Opening Address, HRH Prince Hassan said, “The Middle East presents a stark warning to the rest of the world as to what happens when states fail to cooperate with their neighbours over shared resources upon which they depend. If only our regional states, including Israel could work together on water, could not his horrendous cost of conflict to the people of West Asia have been avoided? Can our states work together to build a new peaceful generation, founded upon cooperation in our shared water?” He appealed to the leaders of the region to follow the example of countries that cooperated in sharing their shared water resources.
HRH Princess Sumaya, in her welcome remarks underlined the importance of better governance and cooperation in the water sector. She said that it was more than urgent to address the water cooperation issue in the Middle East. Ambassador Helena Rietz also emphasised the strong interdependence between water and peace in her address at the Opening Session. She explained the significance of water as a tool for peace and cooperation in the Swedish development cooperation policy in the region. Dr Mahmoud Abu Zeid, Chairman of the Arab Water Council, and former Minister of Water of Egypt, said that it was important to create conflict resolution mechanisms to resolve trans-boundary water disputes.
The Conference provided a platform for experts from Asia, Africa and Europe to share their experiences in collaborative management of shared water resources. These included representatives of the Finnish-Russian Commission, UNECE Secretariat of the Parties to the 1992 Convention, Rhine River Commission, Okawango Commission, Senegal River Basin Commission, Mekong River Commission. In addition, Muhammad Saidam, Executive Director of the Royal Scientific Society; Dr Maysoon Zoubi, former Secretary General of Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation Engineer Sa’ad Abu Hammour, Secretary General, Jordan Valley Authority shared Jordan’s experience in the management of shared water resources with its neighbouring countries.
One of the highlights of the conference was the consolidation of the Blue Peace Media Network, which was established at an earlier conference at Istanbul in March 2013. At the Amman Conference, editors of leading newspapers and other media personalities decided to form a core group and create a website to continue the work of the media network in an organised way. Another highlight of the conference was a bilateral session between experts from Turkey and Iraq to identify concrete confidence building measures in the Euphrates and Tigris basin. The experts will continue their interaction to promote exchange and harmonisation of data related to the rivers and climate.
In response to a suggestion made by HRH Prince Hassan in his Keynote Address, Strategic Foresight Group has decided to expand, consolidate and coordinate various activities of the Blue Peace initiative in the Middle East by transforming the High Level Group into a High Level Forum.
See the launch of the report- Water Cooperation for a Secure World - by HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy0WzYK-Jw0&feature=youtu.be
To download the full report of the conference see:
http://www.strategicforesight.com/conference_pdf/28492Amman%20Conference%20Report.pdf
