World Summit on Sustainable Development Department of Public Information - News and Media Services Division - New York
	Johannesburg, South Africa 26 August-4 September 2002	3 September 2002

PRESS CONFERENCE ON EUROPEAN UNION 'WATER FOR LIFE' INITIATIVE   A major "Water for Life" initiative was announced by the European Union at the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development this morning. Presenting the initiative to journalists at a press conference were Prime Minister of Denmark and President of the European Union, Andreas Fogh Rasmussen, and President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. The initiative aims to create strategic partnerships to achieve international goals on clean water and sanitation that have just been agreed to by the negotiators at the Summit, Mr. Rasmussen told correspondents. In fact, last night, agreement had been reached on the action plan to be adopted by the Summit, except for one minor point on health, he said. The plan would target such important sustainable development areas as water, sanitation, energy, fishing, biodiversity, sustainable production and consumption. The Union's Water for Life Initiative was an example of concrete action in implementation of the Summit decisions. According to the publications distributed, the main objective of the Water Initiative is to provide a catalyst on which future action to implement the Summit goals can be built. The new undertaking seeks to develop innovative funding mechanisms and create higher efficiency for water-related projects through coordination and streamlining of ongoing and future activities. Within this new framework, agreements have already been reached with Africa and 12 countries from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. A political declaration between the Union and its partners is to be signed at the Water Dome at 5:30 p.m. today. Mr. Rasmussen further told correspondents that the Union would grant 1.4 billion euro for water and sanitation this year. As the Initiative developed, governments from other regions, international financial institutions and other relevant participants were expected to become partners, as well. Water and sanitation were crucial for human health, stability and prosperity. Clean water needed to be provided to every village, town and city in the world. He hoped the Initiative would provide ownership, reduce poverty and promote exchange of technology and information. Mr. Prodi said that now that the Summit had succeeded in creating an action plan directed at sustainable development and combating poverty, the international community was going to embark on the long journey towards implementation. Europe would to play an important role in that, and he hoped that it would become "an engine of success". Only with concerted action could the goal of halving the number of people without access to clean water be achieved. Responding to a question regarding yesterday's progress in negotiations, Mr. Prodi said that a compromise on energy was a good start in the right direction. Even if there were no concrete time frames that the Union had proposed, once the direction was decided upon, it would be possible to return to the issue of targets in coming years. Asked about the source of funding for the Initiative, he said that the amount of 1.4 billion euro was not "new money". However, the Union intended to increase its reallocation of funds towards development, including water and sanitation. The Union was also working to organize a multinational plan to mobilize more resources, particularly in Africa, and coordinate the use of water. To a series of other questions, Mr. Prodi said that water and sanitation services needed to be extended to local people in the countries involved. For that purpose, it was also necessary to increase local investment into clean water projects. Many local companies were already starting out in that direction. Mr. Rasmussen added that the aim of the Initiative was to enable developing countries to provide themselves with clean water. As an example, he cited a project supported by the Danish Government in a Soweto township. Having improved sanitation and access to clean water, the project had also halved the number of diseases among children in the township. That was the most efficient way to improve living conditions in developing countries. Asked if fluoridation or other existing health technologies would be taken into consideration in identifying new partnerships, Mr. Prodi replied that it was necessary to use the best technologies available. Remarkable progress had been achieved in recent years, and Africa had to start adopting the safest and most advanced technologies in existence.   Press Conferences Summit News