Summit

The Asia-Pacific Water Ministerial Meeting held at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico in 2006 called upon the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) to organize Asia-Pacific Water Summits (APWS) to be held once every 2-3 years. It was then agreed that the first APWS would be held in Japan in 2007 and the subsequent APWSs would be organized in other countries of the Asia Pacific region through an open proposal process.

The APWS will bring together leaders of the region and showcase leadership in decision-making, excellence in practice and innovation, and concrete results that have had substantial impacts at the policy down through the grassroots levels.

Each APWS will target top-level policy and decision-makers beyond the water sector, such as heads of governments and ministers of finance and planning, as well as leaders from the private sector, local governments, civil society and media in the region.

The primary objective of the APWS is to create the opportunity for the political leaders of the region to recognize the significance of the water issues for achieving MDGs. The dialogue with other water stakeholders at the summit will facilitate this recognition, which is expected to be translated into concrete actions in each country by pushing the issue towards the top of their political agendas.