Excellency Chairperson,

Excellency Secretary General,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I with great delight welcome today's meeting and believe it is a timely event in the process of preparation for the United Nations 2023 Water Conference.

I would like to extend my profound gratitude to the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Csaba Kőrösi for organizing this important event and to all those attend this meeting.

Distinguished gathering,

Today's world is under the influence of threats and challenges and deep changes.

Due to climate change, this year we have witnessed unprecedented natural disasters.

Europe was gripped by extreme heat, which led to forest fires, drying up of rivers and water shortage.

Meanwhile, the southern part of the planet was affected by devastating floods.

Unfortunately, these processes have been going on for many years, and their effects are becoming more and more intense year by year.

It is worth mentioning that water as the basis of human life and essential part of sustainable development is the heart of these processes.

It is clear, that dealing with such conditions requires deep understanding, new approach and effective actions.

The International Decade of Action "Water for Sustainable Development" 2018 – 2028, announced by Tajikistan’s initiative has laid down a solid ground and became a platform for integrated efforts of the international community in this direction.

The United Nations Water Conference which will review Mid–Term Implementation of this Decade is already a landmark in terms of time.

In this context, we share the responsibility to make it historic in terms of content and outcomes and mobilize all opportunities and bend efforts to achieve our goals.

The Republic of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as co-chairs of the Conference, together with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the UN–Water are unceasingly trying to make this Conference a "watershed moment" for the world.

I in this regard, would like to particularly emphasize the decisive role of the Second Dushanbe Conference on the Water Decade in the preparation process for the United Nations Water Conference.

The Dushanbe Conference brought the outcomes of different regional and global event platforms together, elaborated key messages for the New York Conference and laid down a genuine framework for promoting one of its major results - "Water Action Agenda".

Distinguished participants of the meeting,

The topics of the interactive dialogues that refer to the critical challenges of the water sector have been developed by Tajikistan and the Netherlands following consultations with member states and stakeholders. We hope for your support of this agenda.

At the same time, from our point of view, the "Water Action Agenda" needs new and innovative commitments and actions.

In this sense, we have to take steps forward, which could seriously change our actions and approaches.

It is by making such changes we can hope for a safe and prosperous future in terms of water resources!

The Republic of Tajikistan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands stand ready to bend all their efforts to implement this noble mission.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to the Netherlands for the fruitful cooperation over the time of the preparation for the 2023 Conference.

The collaboration of our countries is certainly a clear example of how water can bring together different parties from upstream and downstream regions, mountains and valleys, developed nations, developing and least developed countries and others.

In fact, water has great power and we must use it effectively and wisely!

I am confident, that all stakeholders, particularly heads of states and governments will make a worthy contribution to an implementation of this goal through active participation and accelerated actions.

Tajikistan, as the initiator of the International Decade "Water for Sustainable Development" expresses its gratitude to all parties for their active participation in the preparation process for the 2023 Conference.

I thank you for your attention!