Speech by the Prince of Orange, Chairman of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB), at the opening of the 11th UNSGAB meeting 17 November 2008, Riyadh
Our Board is truly honored to meet here in this beautiful facility and I would like to sincerely thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Royal House for pulling together our sessions on such short notice.
This organizational feat is all the more impressive since right now four additional water related events besides this one are taking place in Riyadh. I understand that not one extra hotel room is available in the entire city! And, it is a fitting welcome for water world representatives since the city has just experienced one of the wettest weeks on record! I'm sure the cities sewage and drainage crews have been working double time.
I would also like to thank others whose support has helped make these sessions possible-the secretariat of the Arab Water Council, which is chaired by our esteemed Board member, Dr. Abu Zeid, and the Islamic Development Bank. Welcome to Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, president of the Islamic Development Bank - thank you for making time in your busy schedule. Welcome also to the UN Representative Assistant Secretary-General Mr. Thomas Stelzer. We are increasing our collaboration with many branches of the UN and our secretariat has been significantly strengthened by Mr. Stelzer's department. You being here with us now, during the busiest months in the UN Agenda, means a lot to us!
Last night we were honored to attend the awards ceremony for the Price Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, which recognizes those dedicated scientists who drive innovation in water management. I congratulate the recipients, and also commend Prince Sultan for creating this opportunity to recognize and reward the commitment of water scientists internationally.
Our meetings in Riyadh have been planned to take advantage of the fact that water ministers representing Arab Countries are gathering here and we are delighted to be meeting them in a regional dialogue this afternoon. We have held regional dialogues in Africa, South and East Asia as well as Latin America and the Caribbean - all have resulted in agreements to enhance future collaboration. In the case of Africa, we agreed that there was a need to focus high level attention to propel water and sanitation issues to the top of national and regional agendas and so we proposed an African Union Summit on Water and Sanitation, which then took place in June of this year. I was able to participate in this Summit and I believe it will help to advance progress towards the water and sanitation MDG for African States.
During our dialogue this afternoon, I am sure that we will learn a great many useful lessons about how Arab countries are coping with water scarcity as their populations, especially in urban areas, grow rapidly. This region has come up with remarkable and instructive innovations in areas such as water reuse and desalinization. Other countries have much to learn from Arab States and more opportunities for technical cooperation can be forged.
We are also keen to explore sanitation issues. Safe and improved sanitation coverage in some Arab States is poor, and some are not on track to meet the MDG sanitation target. This need not be so, given this region's ingenuity, compassion and wealth.
Sanitation, we know, is an unpopular subject, a very private matter that can be challenging to publicly consider. But that is exactly what we must do. And now, during this International Year of Sanitation, is the time to do so. We must because progress depends critically on political will and public education. The latest Joint Monitoring Report conducted by the World Health Organization and UNICEF estimates that just one dollar invested in sanitation yields a return of nine dollars. Safe sanitation also affords human health and dignity, the value of which is immeasurable. So, in this era of global financial instability, sanitation technology and infrastructure is one of the most reliable investment opportunities around! I would like to explore how to increase funding and action on safe sanitation in Arab States with the Islamic Development Bank in our sessions. During our UNSGAB agenda item on the IYS we will review all of the activities around the world that have happened during the International Year of Sanitation, and we will consider how to maintain the momentum after the next few months.
This September in New York during the High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals many world leaders stressed the real need for more effective monitoring and coordination related to the MDG target. To meet this need the Global Framework for Action to coordinate and streamline work among donors, international organizations and recipient countries was proposed. I welcomed the substance driving this Global Framework and indicated that UNSGAB will review this proposal. During our current meeting we will have a session on this important initiative.
During our meeting we will closely assess our work against the Hashimoto Action Plan. I'm happy to say we have carried out many of the actions we set out for ourselves. However, there are many actions that remain and we must develop clear work plans so we all have our marching orders when we leave Riyadh. Looking ahead, we will need to prepare for the World Water Forum in Istanbul as well as advancing our work with the G8 and the African Union.
I could easily go on, but we are here to work, learn and make progress as a team. I am delighted to be with my UNSGAB family again and to be here with so many esteemed representatives of the Arab States. Once again, I thank our gracious hosts, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and I look forward to making great strides while we are together in Riyadh.
Thank you very much.