DUSHANBE, 28.10.2022 (NIAT Khovar) – On October 25, 2022, the High-Level Preparatory Meeting of the President of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly on the preparations for the UN Water Conference 2023 was held in New York, at which the themes of the interactive dialogues of the Conference were adopted by consensus.

At the opening ceremony, the President of the UN General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi delivered a welcoming speech, as well as the сo-hosts of the Conference 2023, the Founder of Peace and National Unity — Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, H.E. Emomali Rahmon, and the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Mark Rutte delivered their statement via video message.

The President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, during his speech, emphasized the importance of this event in the process of preparing for the Conference 2023 and highly appreciated its contribution to the implementation of the goals and objectives of the International Decade for Action «Water for Sustainable Development», 2018-2028. The Head of state also noted that the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as co-hosts of the Conference, together with the UN DESA and the “UN-Water”, are consistently making efforts to ensure that this conference becomes a “turning point in the water sector for the whole world”. In this regard, the Leader of the Nation stressed the key role of the Second Dushanbe Conference on the International Water Decade in the process of preparation for the Water Conference. At his concluding remarks, H.E.Emomali Rahmon expressed gratitude to all parties for their active participation in this process.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General H.E. Ms. Amina Mohammed, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Secretary-General of the UN Water Conference 2023 Mr. Li Junhua and the Chair of the UN-Water Mr. Gilbert Houngbo also made a speech in the opening ceremony. During preparatory event, the representatives of the UN Member States and the stakeholders highly appreciated the approach of the Tajikistan and the Netherlands in the preparatory process to UN 2023 Water Conference and supported the themes of the interactive dialogues proposed by the co-hosts of the UN Conference. As the results of the high-level Preparatory Meeting to the Conference, the themes of the interactive dialogues were adopted by the President of the UN General Assembly.