Brussels (Belgium) - 21 May 2007

As The European Community (EC) has established the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) to address specifically water-related issues, and UN-Water is the UN “initiative” on water at global level, many EC members in the EC Directorates General (specifically, DG-Development, DG-Environment and DG-Research) have express interest in better understanding the work plan of UN-Water and explore the ways to have better collaboration between UN-Water and EUWI.

Further specific interest was expressed by DG-Environment on the Thematic Initiative on “Coping with water scarcity” leaded by FAO.

Therefore UN-Water attended a meeting with key officers of the EUWI to present the organization and its action plan, and to discuss the way to better collaborate between UN-Water and EUWI.

During the meeting, Pasquale Steduto provided an update and work plan on UN Water, while representatives of the Commission presented the status of the EU Water Initiative, its regional components for Africa, EECCA (Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia), Mediterranean and Latin America and the research component.

Communication, synergies and cooperation between UN Water and the EUWI Secretariat will be strengthened through a series of follow-up actions on various initiatives, starting on the one on “Coping with water scarcity”.