The 10th meeting of the UNESCO Regional Centre on Urban Water Management (RCUWM)’s Governing Board in Tehran has been held. Dr. Reza Ardakanian, Minister of Energy of I.R. Iran and GB Chair said the RCUWM regional center in Tehran was established as a hub for cooperation among the countries of the region.
“It has been largely welcomed as we are in an arid region which has been plagued by wars in recent years. Wars that have caused extensive damage to the infrastructure of some countries in the region,” he said.
“Of course, transferring knowledge and experience from other parts of the world and attracting investment are also on our agenda, and we have started various programs with the goal of capacity building and transferring experiences,” he added.
He further noted that RCUWM-Tehran has been inviting other countries, international organizations and even countries outside the region that are interested in helping in this area, adding “Many countries responded positively and participated in the 10th RCUWM meeting; including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan and Turkey.”
“UTCO as the UNESCO DG representative and the representatives of international and regional organizations including UN offices in Tehran (UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP, FAO, UN-HABITAT), WMO along with ECO, IsDB, JCCME and Oman Water Society also attended the gathering,” he said.
RCUWM has been established under the auspices of UNESCO since 2002 in Tehran-Iran. The agreement between the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and UNESCO regarding RCUWM has been recently renewed, signed and exchanged for its third period of activities as for 2019-2024.
It is worth noting that more than 10 water-related project proposals, covering most of the water challenges for the region were presented, for which the members could be potentially involved in. The project proposals were fully described, discussed and received during the Meeting and Governing Board Members were invited to submit new proposals with respect to RCUWM Scope of Activities and contribute to the aforementioned proposals in the region.
Dr. Ardakanian also stated that the next Governing Board Meeting will be held on 17 June 2020 in Dushanbe Tajikistan, proposed by Mr. Usmonzoda, Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Tajikistan and accepted by all Members.
