Senior Officials Meeting on the OIC Water Vision

Date: 14/01/2012

A meeting of the Senior Officials from OIC Member States to consider the draft OIC Water Vision document was held in Istanbul on 12-14 January 2012. It was hosted by the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, Republic of Turkey and jointly organized in cooperation with the OIC General Secretariat. The OIC Water Vision document has been prepared by an Advisory Panel of Experts, composed of prominent experts from all the OIC regions, pursuant to the decisions adopted by the 37th session of Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the OIC (Dushanbe, 18 – 20 May 2010). In his message to the meeting H.E. Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the OIC, highlighted the significance of cooperation among OIC Member States on water related issues. He underlined the importance of regional and international collaboration to deal with the challenges of water security. Besides increasing water scarcity, countries in various OIC regions are also facing varying degrees of other water related challenges, such as adequate foods supply, droughts and land sliding, which will be further exacerbated by climate change. The Meeting agreed to recommend the draft OIC Water Vision document for adoption by the Islamic Conference of Ministers responsible for Water to be held on 5-6 March 2012 in Istanbul. The draft OIC Water Vision, envisages an incremental approach and growth of cooperation in all aspects of water. In the first phase the objective is to outline a framework of cooperation on water-related issues in terms of knowledge sharing, sharing of experience, capacity development, technology transfer, water governance and institutional reforms. This approach is based on the recognition that achieving and sustaining water security depends as much on the economic conditions and organizational capacity of the member states as on water availability. Overtime it is envisaged that such a framework for cooperation will facilitate the formulation of a more ambitious OIC vision of water security with specific goals and specified timelines.

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