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MANILA, PHILIPPINES - In an effort to improve access to clean water and adequate sanitation for the poor, the Asian Development Bank and the U.N. Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation issued a joint statement Friday to collaborate in promoting the efficient management of Asia’s water resources and bolstering investments in safe and sustainable sanitation.
“The United Nations’ Advisory Board and ADB expect that this collaboration will add value to their joint objective of helping achieve the millennium development goals related to water and sanitation in Asia,” according to the joint statement made by ADB Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss and His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, who serves as chairman of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.
One of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals, which were drawn up in 2000 by the United Nations Millennium Summit to reduce poverty and improve lives, was to halve the number of people in Asia without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015.
“With political will and commitment, we believe that the millennium development goal target on water and sanitation is achievable. Financing for water investments is available. Responding to calls from the international community, ADB has committed to double its investments in water to $2 billion annually for five years through the Water Financing Program 2006-2010.,” said Vice President Schaefer-Preuss in her opening remarks at the Asian Regional Dialogue on Water, the eighth meeting of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation held in People’s Republic of China, attended by 10 ministers and senior officials from the region.
The UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation is mandated to promote global action on water and sanitation issues, while ADB is well placed as a regional development finance institution. Together, both bodies will collaborate on the six key areas spelled out under the Hashimoto Action Plan drawn up by the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation in March last year. The six action areas are the promotion of the Water Operators’ Partnership program in Asia and the Pacific that will help establish water utility networks, financing of water and sanitation projects, sanitation, monitoring and reporting, integrated water resources management, and water and disaster. (Read the joint statement)
The UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation will rally with Asian countries to prioritize water financing, and coordinate with donor governments to provide grant funds to support ADB’s Water Financing Program. ADB also set up the Water Financing Partnership Facility to support the Water Financing Program. Currently targeted at $100 million, the facility will provide grant resources and catalyze the water financing program by augmenting knowledge development and capacity building efforts.