RIYADH — Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman called for joint work to lay out plans to ensure the sustainability and management of water resources. Addressing the One Water Summit in Riyadh on Tuesday, the Crown Prince announced that the Kingdom has provided funds exceeding $6 billion to support more than 200 development projects in water sectors in over 60 developing countries.

The Crown Prince said that organizing the water summit on the sidelines of the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16) reflects the Kingdom's utmost keenness on climate issues. "The world today faces increasing challenges in the water sector and this includes increase in drought rates, which causes numerous crises in terms of shortage of usable water, worsening desertification problems and consequently threatening human lives and societies. This requires from us joint work to lay out plans to ensure the sustainability and management of water resources," he said.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman emphasized that Saudi Arabia worked to include water issues for the first time in the Work Plan of the G20 during the Kingdom's presidency in 2020.

He also announced that Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the 11th session of the Global Water Forum in 2027. Referring to the Kingdom's efforts to ensure water security, the Crown Prince said that Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of the Global Water Organization based in Riyadh, and it aims to develop and integrate the efforts to comprehensively address the water challenges.

"The organization will work on tackling issues related to water on the international level, unifying efforts to find inclusive solutions to water challenges, such as exchange of expertise and innovative technologies, and enhancing research and development," he said while urging the UN member states, the international organizations and the private sector to join this organization.

The Crown Prince also expressed hope that the efforts of the international community would contribute to address water challenges and would result in realizing the desired goals in this vital sector.

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