Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are meeting here this afternoon because we all understand that "Finding the Finance" is a crucial part of our efforts to solve our water problems, now and in the future. We already know that at least 70 billion dollars are being spent each year on water management and development - and much more is needed. In the World Water Vision, for example, it was estimated that we need at least 180 billion dollars per annum to address our water problems. We need these funds to:
- get water to the 1.2 billion people currently without access to freshwater;
- to provide sanitation to the 2 billion without it;
- and to reduce the amount of water used by irrigation - by growing more crop per drop - to make more water available for use by other sectors, especially in the many water stressed areas of the world. We also need to:
- clean up and reduce pollution from municipal wastewater, industrial effluents and agricultural discharges;
- to provide better management of extreme water-related events such as floods and droughts;
- and to protect the environment. The matter is so urgent that the Global Water Partnership, the World Water Council, and the 3rd World Water Forum have established an international panel, headed by Mr Michel Camdessus - formerly Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund - to search for options leading to new investments in water. The outcomes of your deliberations today will feed into the work being done by this panel - and into their report which will be presented during the 3rd World Water Forum in Japan in March 2003. When we think about water and finance there are many issues to be considered. For example, there is a need for:
- proper water pricing and cost recovery at household, city, metropolitan, economic and national levels;
- there is a need to generate incentives to get more public funding, and to encourage the private sector to invest in water;
- and we must look for new and innovative financing measures, including the use of local capital markets. At the same time we need to think about how we can encourage and mobilize water users and communities themselves to generate their own financial support. But just getting hold of more money will not solve the problem. A crucial part of the solution is to make sure that the conditions are right to make the most of the new finance when we get it. We may need to turn existing systems around - and there may be a need to make changes in legislation, water policies, institutional arrangements, regulatory structures, water management systems, and more. Getting this Enabling Environment right then, is an equally important aspect of the huge task that lies before us. All of us in this room, the water users as well as those responsible for water management and financing - whether you are from government, the public or private sector, civil society, women's groups, NGOs, community groups, and others - we all have a responsibility to help find the finance and contribute to better water resources management. Only in this way can we live up to our expectation that every human being should have access to safe water for drinking, appropriate sanitation, food, energy and other good uses at reasonable cost, while maintaining and protecting the environment. In concluding, I would like to congratulate the Global Water Partnership, the World Water Council and the 3rd World Water Forum for bringing us here today to address these huge challenges. May I wish you luck in your deliberations and I eagerly look forward to hearing the outcomes of your deliberations during the 3rd World Water Forum in Japan. Thank you.