On Monday, Heads of States and Governments, Ministers and senior officials visited the exhibition on water projects and posed for a group photo, hosted by Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra, before proceeding to the conference room for discussions in plenary.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and UN General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic presented keynote addresses, and Yoshiro Mori, President of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum, Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific, and Takehiko Nakao, President of the Asian Development Bank, also made speeches.
At the Leaders Forum in the afternoon, many country delegations delivered statements on their national actions towards water security, and made recommendations for international cooperation on water issues.
Plodprasop Suraswadi, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, presented delegates with a written summary of the seven Focus Area Sessions from the previous day on: economic, food and water security; urban water security; environmental water security; household water security; water risks and resilience; Integrated Water Resources Management process for a water-secure world; and water-related disaster challenges.
Preecha Rengsomboonsuk, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand, launched the Chiang Mai Declaration at the close of the Leaders Forum, renewing the commitments from the First APWS and encouraging a range of actions towards water security, addressing disaster risk reduction, efficient use of water resources, and irrigation systems improvement, among others. He declared the Second Asia-Pacific Water Summit closed at 5.33 pm.