DUSHANBE, 25.03.2023 (NIAT Khovar) – On March 24, the Founder of Peace and National Unity — Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon took part in the closing ceremony of the UN Water Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of Objectives of the International Decade of Action «Water for Sustainable Development», 2018-2028 in New York City, United States of America.

First, according to the regulations of the closing ceremony, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, and the Prime Minister of Aruba of the Netherlands Evelyn Wever-Croes took their places on the main platform as the chairs of the Conference.

Honorable Leader of the Nation, Emomali Rahmon, as the Chairman of the Second United Nations Conference on Water Issues, gave the floor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the UN General Assembly, and the President of the UN-Water, Gilbert Houngbo, and then made a concluding speech.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the UN Water Conference — 2023, which took place from March 22 to 24, 2023, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon emphasized that during the last three days the Second United Nations Conference on Water Issues that took place for the first time after 46 years gathered thousands of people.

It was highlighted that during the Conference, the participants discussed one of the most important issues — water, which depends on all areas, including food, health, climate, nature, culture and economy of our countries.

Honorable President of the country Emomali Rahmon called water the source of all living things in the world and the power uniting the people of the planet, emphasizing that we should completely change the way of understanding, value and management of water.

«It is necessary for us to have a new vision related to water, which will reflect the prospects for the development of its resources and at the same time contribute to the strengthening of the role of fresh water resources in the future world agenda,»- said the President of the country during his speech.

It was emphasized that the Republic of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the co-chairs of this Conference, had good cooperation with the member states of the United Nations at all stages. These relations made the countries of the planet real partners in water issues.

During the work of the conference, the issues related to mountains, glaciers and rivers in the beautiful country of Tajikistan, to the confluence of the rivers, the coast and the islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands were discussed.

In connection with the historic UN Water Conference, the Head of State emphasized that the great power of water unites different continents, countries and cultures of the world.

Leader of the Nation, Emomali Rahmon, called on all to be united around water, not to miss this opportunity to speed up the further implementation of the sixth Sustainable Development Goal and other goals related to water.

As a result of the work of the Conference, it was stressed that this is the beginning of a new highway of our specific actions, and with new vigor we can now deliver the developed joint actions in the field of water to the world.

The President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, stated that «These three days really gave us new energy: we brought the people of the world to the city of New York, now we can present the developed joint actions in the field of water to the world.»

It was emphasized that all the proposed commitments of the UN member states are included in the Water Action Agenda, and the Water Action Agenda should be discussed at the three upcoming key meetings of the United Nations, i.e. the Sustainable Development Goals Summit-2023, the Summit of the Future-2024 and the World Social Summit-2025 and through annual high-level political forums on SDGs, stakeholder conferences on climate issues, biological diversity, as well as other processes of the United Nations and, of course, the Dushanbe Water Process.

Finally, President Emomali Rahmon invited all participants to the next Conference on the implementation of the International Water Decade, which will be held in Dushanbe in 2024.

It was assured that today the countries are inspired by the commitments made to accelerate actions in the field of water and together they can achieve these noble goals.

10 co-chairs of interactive dialogues, 5 representatives of interested parties and 2 moderators were invited to the stage.

The President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and the Prime Minister of Aruba of the Netherlands presented the symbolic box of the Water Action Agenda with all the commitments of the countries to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the UN General Assembly.

At this moment, they were accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan and the Minister of Infrastructure and Water of the Netherlands.

After the ceremony of handing over the symbol of the Water Agenda, the Chairman of the Water Conference — President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, expressed his gratitude to the participants and declared the UN Water Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of Objectives of the International Decade of Action «Water for Sustainable Development», 2018-2028, closed.

At the end of the closing ceremony of the Conference, a short summary video was shown.

Thus, the work of the UN Water Conference, which was held from March 22 to 24, 2023 under the chairmanship of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was completed.

It is important to emphasize that on the sidelines of the Water Conference, the Honorable Head of State Emomali Rahmon met with the King of the Netherlands, leaders of a number of international organizations and discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation and the agenda of the Conference.

Also, within the framework of the Conference, hundreds of sessions and side events on water and climate topics were held. The participants of the Conference and sessions highly appreciated the contribution of the Leader of the Nation and Tajikistan in solving issues related to water, climate and glaciers.

With this, the working visit of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, to the city of New York of the United States of America, which took place from March 20 to 24, came to an end.

In the afternoon of March 24, the Honorable Head of State Emomali Rahmon left New York for his homeland.