APWF 22nd Governing Council Meeting

The APWF 22^nd Governing Council Meeting (“the Meeting”) was organized at the Singapore PUB WaterHub on 12 July 2018. The main objective of the Meeting was to discuss and gain consensus about the framework of the APWF next three years’ activities (“the APWF Activities”) in line with the outcomes of the 3^rd Asia-Pacific Water Summit (“the 3^rd APWS”) and the Asia-Pacific Regional Process of the 8^th World Water Forum. The Meeting was chaired by Mr. Ravi Narayanan and Ms. Changhua Wu in their capacities as Chair and Vice Chairs of the Governing Council of the APWF. Twenty-four representatives from the 23 member organizations joined the Meeting at the venue, while 3 representatives joined the discussion through remote connection.

The Meeting brought the APWF into the new phase in terms of the following two aspects:

– Firstly, Dr. Eduardo Araral, Associate Professor and Co-Director of Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, was formally appointed and inaugurated as a new APWF Governing Council Vice Chair at the Meeting. He succeeded to the former Vice Chair, Prof. Simon Tay, Chairman of Singapore International Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), who served as the APWF Governing Council Vice Chair from May 2013 to December 2017. Prof. Simon Tay joined the Meeting in the morning and expressed his honor and appreciation for having been able to work for the APWF. The Letter of Appreciation from the President of APWF, H.E Mr. Yoshiro Mori, was presented to Prof. Simon Tay.

– Secondly, this Meeting was the first gathering since the completion of the 3^rd APWS that adopted “Yangon Declaration: the Pathway Forward”, and the conclusion of the Regional Process of the 8^th World Water Forum. 

As to the APWF next three years’ activities, consensus was achieved to develop and implement it under the following three thematic focuses and priorities of the Yangon Declaration: 

1) Sound Water Cycle Management
2) Governance and Inclusive Development
3) Financing the implementation of water-related SDGs

APWF members also agreed to develop the Working Groups led by Champion Organizations to be nominated from participating organizations in order to widely cover the members’ work in Asia and the Pacific region. Upon the agreement, the following three organizations were nominated and accepted as the Champion Organization for each thematic focus.  

1) Sound Water Cycle Management: UNESCO Regional Sciences Bureau for Asia and the Pacific
2) Governance and Inclusive Development: UNESCAP
3) Financing the implementation of water-related SDGs: ADB   

The Working Groups were arranged based on the expression of interest made during the meeting and the questionnaires submitted before the meeting.

The outcomes of the APWF Activities will be presented at the 4^th Asia-Pacific Water Summit (4^th APWS) which is planned to be held in 2020 to show efforts and results made for each thematic focus, each Working Group examining the progress and gaps in pursuing the activities.

The guideline for selecting a host country and a city was shared by the APWF Secretariat.

For more information, please contact the APWF Secretariat (office[at]apwf.org). 

   
                 =Agenda =

By Yumiko Asayama, Manager, Secretariat of the APWF