John Turner, US, Elliot Morley, UK, and

Minister of Economy, Forests, and Environment, Republic of the Congo, addressed the water and energy challenges facing central Africa . He focused on the threats to the Congo Basin system, climate change and rainfall, highlighting a drop off in water flows and impacts and described a NEPAD initiative which is seeking GEF funding to set up a sub-regional authority to address the threats.

Yousef Shureiqi, Minister of Environment, Jordan, said the Middle East and North Africa (MINA) had captured world attention for all the wrong reasons and noted the opportunities to enhance, structure and showcase its participation in partnership activities. He underlined the need for MINA countries to institutionalize and document initiatives and to integrate them into the WSSD partnership framework.

John Turner, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, US, noted the role of partnerships in creating critical links between internationally agreed development goals, partners and governments, citing the examples of the Global Water Partnership and Global Village Energy Partnership. He invited Forum participants to make the most of opportunities to build partnerships, continue the conversation beyond the Forum, and publicize their successes.

Pieter van Geel, Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment, the Netherlands, underlined the opportunity for CSD-12 to set the tone for deliberations at the 2005 Millennium Summit, notably calls for increased investment in energy, water and shelter. He called on the CSD to do more to reach out to the development community and the Finance for Development process.

Frances Seymour, Director, Institutions and Governance Program, World Resources Institute (left), highlighted three challenges faced by Partnerships for Principle 10: NGOs and governments need to be jointly accountable for results to learn from what is, and is not, working; to avoid the perception that partnerships exist primarily at the international level, since the focus needs to be at the operational level; and, to make partnerships catalysts for official action rather than substitutes for it.

Fanny Calder, The Partnership Initiative and Associate Fellow, Chatham House (center), provided an international affairs perspective. She noted that partnerships are, inter alia , working to create change in a creative way at the system level, reduce political risk, and coordinate work. Partnerships can engage the expertise and resources of a diverse range of actors, strengthening public policy at the national level, and supporting and engaging progress in international negotiations