On Friday, 2 February, UN-Water Members and Partners gathered for the second and final day of the 28th UN-Water meeting. Participants were briefed on recommendations and planning for outreach and education campaigns, including World Toilet Day, World Water Day, and the International Decade for Action – Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028.

UN-Water Secretary Zhu highlighted that the President of the UN General Assembly has identified the 22 March launch of the Decade as one of three major events of his tenure, and that the launch will take place during a high profile event at UN Headquarters attended by Heads of State and Government.

UN-Water Members and Partners announced a number of other upcoming water-related events including: the Dushanbe Conference in Tajikistan in June; the 8th World Water Forum in Brazil in March; the 5th International Conference of Local and Regional Authorities, which will be held during the World Water Forum; the “Prosperity through Hydrological Services” conference in Geneva in May; and World Water Week 2019 in Stockholm in August 2019.

The decisions on the UN-Water budget and work program for 2018-2019, and date and venue for the next UN-Water meeting, were adopted. UN-Water Chair Houngbo announced that the 29th UN-Water meeting will take place from 24-25 August 2018, in Stockholm, Sweden. 

In a joint statement on behalf of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Finland and Norway, Sweden commended UN-Water activities and encouraged custodian agencies for the SDG 6 indicators to continue engaging with UN-Water and coordinating on water-related activities, and positioning water issues higher on the political agenda whilst avoiding duplication. They underscored that achieving the SDGs requires working together on targeted interventions and working at the country level to harmonize efforts to fulfill the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UN-Water Chair Houngbo closed the open meeting for UN-Water Members and Partners at 12:33 pm.