Speech by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan Zavqizod Zavqi Amin at the UN Special Event on the Water Agenda at the High Level Political Forum in New York, USA

On July 17, 2023, a special meeting on the Sixth Sustainable Development Goal and the Water Agenda was held at the UN Headquarters as part of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development initiated by the UN Water Mechanism, within the framework of which the results of the Midterm Review Conference of the International Decade were summed up actions "Water for sustainable development, 2018-2028" (UN Water Conference), which took place on March 22-24 this year.

The event was opened by UN-Water Chairman Gilbert Houngbo nd UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua. In addition, the President of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly Csaba Korosi delivered an opening speech.

On behalf of the chairpersons of the conference on behalf of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Zavqizoda Zavki Amin and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Stevan Kolleta took part and expressed their views on the results of the Water Conference and the way forward.

Zavqizoda Z. A. noted that the Republic of Tajikistan is a leader in solving global water and climate problems, and five global initiatives of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Leader of the Nation, respected Emomali Rahmon, contribute to the promotion of water issues in the global sustainable development agenda for more than two decades.

In his speech, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the country emphasized the importance of the results of the Water Conference in accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and raising awareness of the need to address global water-related problems. It was noted that the historic UN Water Conference has made a significant contribution to bringing together world leaders, including heads of state, government, international organizations, financial institutions, private companies and other stakeholders around the water theme.

As a result of the conference, voluntary commitments were made to take immediate action in the Water Action Plan regarding political aspects, financing, management, cooperation and other areas, and more than 330 billion US dollars are required for its implementation.

Zavqizoda Z.A. stressed that the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as the hosts of the conference, will follow the key messages from the event on the most important platforms, such as the General Assembly considering the implementation of the Sendai Program for Disaster Risk Reduction for 2015-2030, Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals 2023, the World Social Summit 2025 and through the annual high-level political forums on the Sustainable Development Goals, participate in various conferences on climate issues and implement them in mutual cooperation with UN agencies, the private sector and other stakeholders.

At the end of his speech, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade called on all parties to join efforts and measures, exchange experience and knowledge related to finding ways to jointly solve water problems.