On February 24^th, the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), for which the Japan Water Forum serves as secretariat, held its 18^th Governing Council Meeting, which was hosted by Singapore PUB. The meeting was attended by 33 delegates from 22 organizations, including the chair and vice-chair of the APWF governing council, representatives of lead organizations, and sub-regional coordinators.

It is now ten years since the APWF was established in 2006. At this meeting, the participants shared their activities at present and throughout 2016 for the solution of water problems in Asia and the Pacific, including the measures for dealing with the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). The participants then discussed the APWF’s roles and its course of action in the future as well as how to reinforce partnerships with related organizations toward the effective implementation of the 3^rd Asia-Pacific Water Summit (APWS) planned in 2017 and Asia-Pacific regional process of the 8th World Water Forum in March, 2018.

In the subsequent intensive discussion, there was an exchange of views on how to promote further collaboration between the APWF and Asia Water Council (AWC), as well as the challenges that must be tackled. We also discussed the selection of host country for the 3^rd APWS and the thematic framework.