Distinguished Co-Chairs Pascale and Jonibek,
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I am honoured to address the Group of Friends of Water.
2026 is the Year of Water. Our roadmap is clear, beginning in January in Dakar with the high-level preparatory meeting for the 2026 UN Water Conference.
This meeting will give Member States, the UN system and stakeholders the opportunity to sharpen our focus on the six interactive dialogue themes for the Conference, distilling priorities into actionable solutions and investments. We will be hearing more about the Dakar meeting later today.
We will carry this momentum through the Dushanbe Water Process Conference in May and the SDG 6 review at the High-Level Political Forum in July in New York.
All these efforts will lead to the UN Water Conference in the United Arab Emirates, co-hosted with Senegal. But this is not the finish line. We must sustain our pace through 2028, when the Water Action Decade ends with the Conference in Dushanbe.
We have a robust framework guiding our deliberations—the six interactive dialogue themes, building on the 2023 Water Conference.
Namely:
1. Water for people
2. Water for prosperity
3. Water for planet
4. Water for cooperation
5. Water in multilateral processes, and
6. Investments for water.
In each of these areas, however, the landscape has changed significantly since 2023. We face new conflicts, backsliding in climate action, economic instability, threats to multilateralism, and the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence.
Against this fractured backdrop, water remains a unique unifier. We saw this in July when these six themes were adopted by consensus by Member States. We must continue in this spirit, strengthening cooperation and leveraging the respective strengths of partners.
UN DESA stands ready to support Member States and all other stakeholders in this endeavour. As Secretary-General of the Water Conference, my team and I are working closely with Senegal and the UAE to deliver a successful Conference.
We are, of course, working within severe resource constraints, with significant staff reductions supporting both the 2026 and 2028 Conferences. Nevertheless, we pledge to deliver the high-quality support that Member States expect. We will seek extrabudgetary resources to bridge the gap wherever possible.
We do not walk this path alone. Water is a unifying force for Member States and the UN System. UN-Water exemplifies interagency cooperation, and UN DESA will work hand in hand with the experts of the UN-Water family. We will count on the leadership of the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Water, Ms. Retno Marsudi, to elevate water on the global stage.
Dear colleagues and friends,
The Group of Friends of Water is a vital ally and important engine for UN action on water and sanitation. I look forward to your partnership and support as we turn the “Year of Water” into a year of action.
Thank you!