President Advises Riparian States of Transboundary Watercourse to Avoid Politicizing Water

Addis Ababa March 23/2022/ENA/ In her speech to the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, President Sahle-Work Zewde advised riparian states of transboundary watercourse to avoid politicizing water.

Heads of States, ministers, parliamentarians, civil society organizations, private sector, intellectuals are in attendance of forum underway in Dakar, Senegal.

President Sahle-Work Zewde highlighted in her speech GERD and the Green Legacy Initiative.

She stressed the need to address common challenges through three interrelated approaches, namely ensuring political commitment, seeing water as a technical matter and avoiding politicization, and genuine cooperation which is not an option but rather a necessity for riparian states of trans-boundary watercourse.

The World Water Forum is the world's largest event on water. It has been organized every three years since 1997 by the World Water Council, in partnership with a host country.

The 9th Forum is the first of its kind to be hosted in sub-Saharan Africa.

By bringing together participants from all levels and areas, including politics, multilateral institutions, academia, civil society and the private sector, among others, the World Water Forum provides a unique platform where the international water community and key decision makers can collaborate and make long-term progress on global water challenges.

The "Dakar 2022" Forum focuses on water security and sanitation, water for rural development, and cooperation as well as means and tools including the crucial issues of financing, governance, knowledge management and innovation.