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Alfred Nersisyan discusses the agreement between Armenia and France with French representatives. |
Armenia is represented among 25,000 other participants from other nations in the 5th World Water Forum.
The World Water Forum consisted of 100 meetings surrounding the issues of water management.
Three Armenian representatives participated in the 5th World Water Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16-22, 2009. Alfred Nersisyan (Head of the Water Resources Management Agency of the RA Ministry of Nature Protection), Bardukh Gabrielyan (a board member of the “Ecological Survival”), and Christine Hovhannisyan (member of the “Protection of Consumer Rights” NGO) were selected to represent Armenia in the week long forum. Funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided the necessary financial assistance to Armenia.
Currently, Armenia is lacking effective water management techniques. There are no proper water treatment plants and thus polluted water is dumped back into rivers. In addition, many factories are dumping their wastes into the rivers. As a result the rivers are polluted and the water quality is below standard.
The World Water Forum consisted of 100 meetings surrounding the issues of water management. Furthermore, participants had the opportunity to work together to create solutions to these problems in the hopes of making water resources accessible to people in all nations.
The highlight of the forum for Armenia is the agreement signed between the Water Management Agency of the RA Ministry of Nature Protection and the Water Agency of France. As a result of this agreement both countries will share information regarding methods to control water resources and will participate in workshops in order to become more efficient in their management of water resources.
In addition, Armenian representatives met with representatives from the European Union and began to discuss the possibility of Armenia’s participation in the European Neighborhood Policy. Currently discussions are underway about the possibility of the European Union offering assistance to several Armenian cities in order to improve water management efforts. This would lead to reconstruction and new infrastructure that would improve water management techniques.
The participants hope to use their newly acquired knowledge from the forum to help improve the management of water resources in Armenia. Furthermore, they feel optimistic that the new agreement between Armenia and France will aid both nations in resolving water management issues.
Publication Date: 2009-04-17
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