African Water Week Declaration Calls for ‘Smart’ Investments to Water Sector

The First African Water Week concluded in March with a call to African governments to prioritize budgetary allocations to the water sector. Governments were also asked to encourage innovative ways of financing sector investments to meet the continent’s enormous requirements.

The three-day event in Tunisia, organized by African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and the AfDB, brought together 25 African water ministers and more than 500 water sector stakeholders.
The Tunis Declaration issued at the end of the event stressed that investments in infrastructure assets should be well managed and maintained by service providers for optimal benefits. During the event, AfDB announced plans to raise about US$4.5 billion (EUR 2.85 billion) to take the number of Africans with access to drinking water from the current 46 per cent to 66 per cent by 2010. The African Water Facility requires US$200 million (EUR 127 million) for infrastructure investments over the next four years.

The First African Water Week is the forerunner to several major water sector events, setting the stage for these upcoming continental and global water events. Among these preparations include a review by a task force of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board that synthesizes key agreements and declarations – including the eThekwini and Tunis declarations – to support preparations for the African Union Heads of State Summit on Water and Sanitation planned for this month. Other follow-up global events include the launching of the 2008 International Year of Sanitation, the G8 meeting planned for later this month in Japan, and the 5th World Water Forum in March 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.