On 25 October 2022 the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, delivered a video message at the opening ceremony of the meeting of the President of the UN General Assembly on preparations for the UN Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the implementation of the goals of the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028.
Emomali Rahmon noted the importance and timeliness of this event in the process of preparing for the UN 2023 Water Conference and expressed gratitude to the Chairman of the UN General Assembly for organizing the meeting.
“I am confident that all stakeholders, especially the Heads of States and Governments, will make a contribution to the preparatory process for the UN 2023 Water Conference, as well as the implementation of the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” 2018-2028 through active participation and acceleration of actions,” noted Mr. President.
The preparatory meeting was convened by the President of the UN General Assembly in accordance with paragraph 16 of General Assembly resolution 75/212 in order to finalize the themes of the Interactive Dialogues and other outstanding organizational issues of the UN 2023 Water Conference.
The meeting was chaired by the President of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Csaba Korosi. The opening ceremony was also attended by Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Ms. Amina Mohamed (video message), Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Mr. Mark Rutte (video message), Chair of UN-Water Gilbert Houngbo and United Nations Under-Secretary-General on Social and Economic Affairs, Secretary General of the Conference Mr. Li Junhua.
The meeting considered the key messages of the Consultative Meeting with Stakeholders (24 October 2022) on transformations related to the Water Agenda for Action, put forward by the Office of the President of the General Assembly and stakeholders, an overview of the themes of Interactive Dialogues of the UN 2023 Water Conference and the views of the participating States and relevant stakeholders on the themes of the Interactive Dialogues, as proposed by the co-organizers of the Conference, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
After careful improvement and taking into account the proposals of Member States and other stakeholders at the high-level preparatory meeting, the President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Csaba Korosi, announced the final versions of the themes of the Interactive Dialogues of the UN 2023 Water Conference.