ISLAMABAD: The OIC Secretary General, Dr Yousef A Othairneen has stressed the need for collective efforts at global, regional and sub-regional levels to address the enormous challenges of access to clean water and sanitation.
According to a message received here from Cairo (Egypt), he said in his opening remarks at the fourth session of the recently held Islamic Conference of Ministers Responsible for Water (ICMW), hosted by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of the Arab Republic of Egypt in collaboration with the OIC General Secretariat at Cairo.
On the occasion, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, in his video message to the conference, welcomed the ministers and all the delegates to Egypt.
Addressing the plenary session, Pakistan’s ambassador to Cairo highlighted the importance that the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan attached great importance to water sustainable management and conservations and reaffirmed the desire of Pakistan to share its expertise with OIC member states.
Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan were elected as members from the Asia Group to the OIC Water Council 2019-2020.
Following the inaugural statements, the conference proceeded to elect Arab Republic of Egypt as chairman and Pakistan, Nigeria and Palestine as vice-chairmen to its Bureau. Pakistan was also elected as Member of the OIC Water Council for 2019-2020.
Participating ministers and heads of delegations shared their respective experiences in the field of water resources management
They also pointed out the various challenges facing their countries and the measures taken to address those challenges and their expectations from the effective and expeditious implementation of the OIC water vision.
The conference listened to IDB strategy for water resources sector prepared by the bank.
The conference commended the strategy and expressed hope that it will help the member states in their efforts towards expeditious implementation of the OIC water vision.
The Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Dr Mohammad Abdel Ati shared Egypt’s experience in addressing water-related challenges and welcomed any OIC Member state that may wish to benefit from the experience. The conference also adopted the draft resolution on 4th Islamic Conference Ministers Responsible for Water.
