Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Mr. Sergey Kononuchenko, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, at the Event “Presentation of Outcomes of the Dushanbe High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028”

Your Excellency Deputy Minister,

Dear friends,

We are happy to see the continuation of our work that started in New York as a preparatory process and then transitioned to Dushanbe for the event itself.

The Dushanbe Conference was indeed a huge success. And I’m saying this not simply because of the world-famous Tajik hospitality that the host country extended to the Russian delegation and other guests. Besides that, there are other reasons worth mentioning:

First, Tajikistan brought together representatives of countries from diverse regions as well as leading international experts on water issues from intergovernmental organizations and civil society. They provided for an inclusive discussion and honest exchange of views.

Second, the Conference covered a broad variety of topics – from linkages to food security, energy, agriculture and climate change to the improvement of scientific knowledge and water financing. I would like to particularly emphasize the professional nature of discussions in Dushanbe.

Third, it resulted in a well-balanced and concrete outcome document that could serve as a useful input to other discussions on water. It drew from experiences and specific inputs of member-states and water experts from UNESCO, World Bank, Global Water Partnership and other institutions.

And last but not least, it provided a solid ground to kick off the implementation of the International Decade “Water for Sustainable Development”.

The Russian Federation was honored to contribute to the Conference. We were represented by Deputy Head of our Federal Agency of Water Resources and officials and experts from the Agency, Permanent Mission in New York and Embassy in Tajikistan. During the event we advocated for the promotion of Integrated Water Resource Management, the need to focus on cooperation between riparian countries in managing transboundary rivers and lakes as well as tackling issues related to water pollution, natural disasters and monitoring of the situation on the ground.

To conclude, the Russian Federation remains committed to the successful implementation of the Decade together with all interested partners.

Thank you.