On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, the Founder of Peace and National Unity – Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan His Excellency Emomali Rahmon took part in the High-Level Event “Towards the Implementation of the International Decade of Action “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018 – 2028”.

Addressing the High-Level Event, Emomali Rahmon, the President of Tajikistan, pointed out that believing today’s deliberations and exchange of views help to reinforce our joint efforts towards implementation of the International Decade of Action “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018 – 2028”.

The Leader of the Nation Emomali Rahmon underscored that the experience we learned during the implementation of the International Decade of Action «Water for Life, 2005 - 2015» has demonstrated that such decades might serve as an effective instrument for promoting implementation of development goals.

President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon expressed confidence that we can implement these tasks and objectives only through continued cooperation and mobilization of human, financial, and technical resources.

President of our country highlighted that the efforts undertaken during the last 40 years by and within the United Nations and other organizations had been essential in facilitating access to safe drinking water, improving knowledge and skills in the field of water resources management, strengthening collaborative partnership on water and forming new holistic approach to tackle water-related global and regional challenges.

Despite the fact that the international community has made a visible progress in this domain, President Emomali Rahmon proposed in his address that we should not lose sight on factors that narrow horizon of our cooperation.

In the opinion of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, “efficient cross border collaboration serves as a catalyst for sustainable management and use of water resources, helps prevent irrational utilization and ensure a balance between the methods and principles of water resources management”.

In conclusion, President Emomali Rahmon stated that “Tajikistan as the initiator of the International Decade of Action “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028” intends to establish a Center for Coordination of actions aimed at implementation of the Decade” and added that “the Tajik side developed and endorsed National plan of action for promoting an implementation of the International Decade, and, in line with this, we propose to host the International Conference on Water next year in the city of Dushanbe”.

The High-Level Event was also addressed by Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Liu Zhenmin of China, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Olga Algayerova of Slovakia, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Grete Faremo of Norway, the Executive Board of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga, the Prime Minister of Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Ayman Al Safadi, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sultan bin Saad bin Sultan Al Muraikhi, the Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen, the Morocco Secretary of State to the Minister of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development, in charge of Sustainable Development Nezha El Ouafi, UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Gilbert F. Houngbo, the Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States Cihan Sultanoğlu, the Director-General for Global Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Hideo Suzuki, the Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the United Nations Abdullah Al-Moalami.