On June 11, the Founder of Peace and National Unity – Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, participated and spoke at the Third International Conference on the International Decade of Action "Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028".

First, the Honorable Head of State Emomali Rahmon welcomed the heads of delegations of governments and influential organizations to Tajikistan and wished them success in the work of the conference.

The President of the country commented on the global initiatives of Tajikistan and emphasized that "together we were able to put water at the center of global negotiations on development and unite the world community around this very important topic".

The Honorable Leader of the Nation Emomali Rahmon considered the measures taken up to date in this direction to be insufficient and made proposals to find new ways to achieve the goals.

Taking advantage of the presence of high-level experts at the conference, the Head of state considered it necessary to make efforts for new and effective actions along with the fulfillment of the commitments made within the United Nations Water Conference.

Honorable President of the country Emomali Rahmon called the use of the "Dushanbe Water Process" as a platform for following up on the results of the United Nations Water Conference one of the commitments within the framework of the Water Action Agenda, and expressed Tajikistan's readiness for further expansion of this process.

The support of Tajikistan's initiatives in the field of water and climate by the international community through 10 resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations embodies the active and key role of our country in promoting the agenda of water and climate at the international level.

It was emphasized that Tajikistan, despite having abundant fresh water resources, including glaciers, lakes and rivers, pays special attention to water-related problems. From this point of view, the topic of water resources, their rational and sustainable use has been identified as one of the priorities of our state policy.

The Leader of the Nation stated that the activity of our country in promoting the issue of water in the global climate agenda is another point of interest.

  The Head of state mentioned that we have implemented effective measures to solve water issues at the national and regional levels.

In particular, in order to fully transition to the integrated management of water resources in Tajikistan, the "Water Sector Reform Program for 2016-2025" is being implemented.

The development of the "National Water Strategy for the period up to 2040", the "State Program for the provision of drinking water and the elimination of waste water for the period up to 2032", the establishment of a unified information system in the water sector and the "Program for the greening of the country's nature until 2040" are important actions of our country in addressing water and climate problems.

Honorable Head of State Emomali Rahmon stated that our programs and strategies in this direction include issues related to the improvement of culture and the rational and economical use of water and the introduction of new irrigation technologies.

"We are doubling our efforts to transition to a "green economy" and water resources play a key role in achieving this goal," - said the Honorable President of the country Emomali Rahmon.

  During the speech, the Leader of the Nation drew the attention of the conference participants to another urgent issue, that is, the problem of glaciers, which are one of the main sources of fresh water.

It was mentioned that precisely for this reason, Tajikistan's initiative to declare 2025 as the "International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation" gained full support, and according to the relevant resolution of the UN General Assembly, starting next year, March 21 every year will be celebrated as "World Glaciers Day".

In this regard, the President of the country mentioned that Tajikistan, being one of the first, made its financial contribution to the activation of the "International Targeted Fund for the Protection of Glaciers".

"In order to further strengthen this important issue, together with our partners, we have decided to promote the draft resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations on the declaration of the Decade of Polar Science and Glaciology", - the Head of State emphasized.

Concluding his speech, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, expressed his confidence that the results of today's conference would make a valuable contribution to solving the problems related to water and climate.

After the meaningful speech of the Leader of the Nation Emomali Rahmon, a number of high-level experts, heads of the delegations of the governments of countries and international and regional organizations, including the Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zeljka Cvijanovic, the President of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis, the First Vice President of Zimbabwe Chiwenga Constantino, the Vice President Angola Esperanza Dakoshta, the Vice President of Zambia Mutale Nalumango, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, UN Economic and Social Council President Paula Narvez Oyeda, Gabon Prime Minister Raimon Sima, Islamic Development Bank President Mohamed Al-Jasser, UN Deputy Secretary General Li Junhua, Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Global Director of the Global Water Practice of the World Bank, Saroj Kumar Jha, spoke and highly evaluated Tajikistan's global initiatives in solving water and climate problems.