Officially the Kick-Off the Meeting (Preparatory Process) of the World Water Forum was launched on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 June 2019 in Dakar. The activity was launched by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Serigne Mbaye Thiam and the President of the World Water Council, Loïc Fauchon.

This meeting marks the official launch of the preparation of the World Water Forum which will take place in Senegal in March 2021. During this meeting, the actors shared the experience in the field of organization to enable Senegal to better to succeed this 9th Forum.

This forum, the first in sub-Saharan Africa will have an African color according to the Executive Secretary of the World Water Forum, Abdoulaye Sene. For him, this Senegalese Forum will bring an African touch in the organization because it is above all a forum of Africa. Abdoulaye Sene reported that 670 participants were registered for the meeting including 211 participants from 53 countries from all continents and 459 nationals.

The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Serigne Mbaye Thiam, indicates that this forum is the first African after that of Marrakech in 1997. According to Serigne Mbaye Thiam, the choice of Senegal, the first African country south of the Sahara designated as a host country, "is a mark of recognition of the enormous progress made by our country in the field of water and sanitation, but also in terms of hydro-diplomacy."

The Senegalese Minister pointed out the Senegal Forum will have an integrated preparation based on multi-stakeholder open-ended exchanges around four priorities: water security, cooperation, water for rural development and the box "Tools and Means »including crucial issues of funding, governance, knowledge management and innovations. Serigne Mbaye Thiam said that to better address the Forum, series of events "Road To Dakar" will be organized by March 2021.

The President of the World Water Council, Loïc Fauchon, called for a full involvement of all to flavor the water resource. "The planet is suffering from water problems when it is full of water," says the president of the World Water Council. Loïc Fauchon has a thought for those inhabitants of the poor population with contaminated water that cause hundreds of millions of deaths in the world. According to the president of the World Water Council, the success of all decisions of the Forum will depend on the ability to mobilize actors around the triptych: knowledge, governance and finance.

Source : www.lejecos.com