Egypt's Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation and Chairman of the African Ministers of Water Council (AMCAW), Hani Sweilam, participated in the high-level ministerial session on "Africa Day… Innovations and Knowledge Exchange" organized by the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank. The session was held on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden. In his speech, Sweilam stressed the importance of improving drinking water and sanitation services in the African continent to preserve public health and maintain the ecosystem and biodiversity, pointing out that financing the water sector is still not commensurate with development aspirations with regard to water and sanitation in the continent. He pointed out that despite the fact that Africa enjoys abundant resources of fresh water, progress towards achieving the continental and global goals with regard to drinking water and sanitation is insufficient, and that despite the improvement in the percentage of the African population who can access these services, according to the reports of the African Union, more than 800 million people in the continent lack sanitation services and about 430 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. The minister added that the African Union seeks to achieve 100% comprehensive coverage of drinking water and sanitation services by 2030 as part of the union's 2063 agenda, and therefore this session is organized to discuss innovative financing mechanisms to achieve the sixth goal of sustainable development goals in Africa, which is concerned with water, and measures to accelerate work on Achieving continental and global goals in the field of sanitation and hygiene in Africa. Furthermore, the session also aims to increase reliance on innovations and exchange experiences, enhance the ability to adapt to climate change to counter its negative effects, stimulate the necessary measures to raise the status of water in national systems, activate the commitment of the member states of the AU to increase measures aimed at achieving the goals of water and sanitation in Africa and accelerate formulating the water vision in Africa beyond 2025. Sweilam called on partner countries, institutions and the private sector to support all national and regional African events to raise the continent's voice loudly at the international level, and to engage in the activities of the "African Center for Water and Climate Adaptation" as the best platform for capacity building and knowledge exchange. He also invited the participants to participate in the activities of the 6th Cairo Water Week to be held at the end of October, as well as the AfricaSan7 conference to be held in Namibia in November.
