Egypt's permanent representative to UN Mohamed Idris said Wednesday that the Egyptian mission in New York has been leading large-scale efforts over the past period to draft a transnational statement outlining a clear international vision for water issues. These efforts were exerted in cooperation with other diplomatic missions of friendly states, he said in statements. As a result of these efforts, Egypt managed to gain the support of 155 UN-member states on the statement at the eve of the UN high-level meeting on water on Thursday. The statement highlights basic lines and priorities for UN to follow up the implementation of sixth goal of the sustainable development goals, which is related to water. The statement highlighted Egypt's stance concerning water issue, which it considered as a matter of life and issue of existence, Idris said. He said the statement underlined the importance of cross-border cooperation and political will to ensure the right of water accessibility and brokering real negotiations to avoid conflicts and achieve regional stability. Endorsing such an important statement could be seen as an unprecedented international step on the road of defending Egypt's strategic interests on water issues, Idris said.
