Global Water Partnership meeting ends in Accra

Accra, July 14, GNA - The Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership, West Africa (GWP/WA), has proposed Mr Hama Arba Diallo, a Burkinabe and Mayor of Dori as the next chair for the next two years. A statement issued to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the decision was arrived at the just ended Steering Committee's Meeting in Accra from July 11 to 12, 2008.

The meeting was the second of such meetings in the year after the first one in Ouagadougou in March 2008. Mr Diallo, who has a long experience in development issues and doubled as a parliamentarian, is likely to be endorsed to succeed the outgoing Chair Mr Madiodio Niasse, a Senegalese in January 2009 in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

The (GWP) was established to support countries in the sustainable management of their water resources.

GWP/WA comprised 11 member countries and Ghana is represented under the Country Water Partnership (CWP) by the Water Resources Commission. Private and civil society organizations also play crucial role in the GWP's activities with the fundamental mission of building alliances and the institutional capacities of its members to encourage and strengthen networks of research, expertise and information on integrated water resources management (IWRM).

GWP/WA secretariat is based in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Welcoming members, Mr Niasse described the Accra Meeting as the best in terms of attendance during his tenure and called for stronger and deeper cooperation for members in their drive to ensure a sustainable water management programme for the region. The timing of the Meeting, he said, was important since the Programme for the Improvement of Water Governance in West Africa (PIWAG) was closing its first year in September 2008. The PIWAG is under auspicious of the European Union (EU) and the Global Water Partnership Organisation (GWPO) The Meeting discussed the regional Technical Committee's Work plan, the evolutions in the development process of the GWP Strategy 2009-2013 and the state of accreditation of Country Water Partnerships as GWP partners.