National Water Research Center (NWRC) Represents Egypt as a BOG Member in the World Water Council (WWC)

The World Water Council (WWC) is an international multi-stakeholder platform organization whose mission is to mobilize action on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, by engaging people in debate and challenging conventional thinking. The Council focuses on the political dimensions of water security, adaptation and sustainability. The World Water Council has a network of experienced professionals from around the world working towards a better water future, seeking to expand and maximize its activities to create new synergies and propose innovative solutions. The World Water Council is an international multi-stakeholder platform that was established back in 1996 on the initiative of renowned water specialists and international organizations, in response to an increasing concern about world water issues from the global community. Its mission is to promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, to facilitate the efficient conservation, protection, development, planning, management and use of water in all its dimensions on an environmentally sustainable basis for the benefit of all life on earth. By providing a platform to encourage debates and exchanges of experience, the Council aims to reach a common strategic vision on water resources and water services management amongst all stakeholders in the water community. In the process, the Council also catalyses initiatives and activities, whose results converge toward its flagship product, the World Water Forum. The Council's action for is oriented in priority towards bringing people together through active hydro-diplomacy, exploring new ideas and concepts and discussing issues while encouraging exchanges and networking. The anticipated activities are situated in 4 specific domains: • Water on the Political Agenda • Exploring Water Security issues • Co-organizing World Water Forums • Reinforcing the Organization Through its wide membership of organizations throughout the world, the Council spreads information about the processes it carries out in leading political, scientific and technical domains, in addition to practical perspectives and knowledge. It does this through a wide range of activities overseen by the Board of Governors, including the World Water Forums, multi-stakeholder dialogues, workshops, publications and online platforms. The General Assembly of the Council elects a maximum of 35 members to the Board of Governors in accordance with the Constitution and By-Laws, where the city of Marseille-France (which has been selected as a host city) receives a permanent seat on the Council. In order to extend Egypt's role in international fora in the field of water resources management at all levels, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) nominated the President and Vice-President for Research Plans of the National Water Research Center (NWRC) to participate in WWC Board of Governors elections. On December 1, 2018, the World Water Council announced its new Board of Governors, which will guide the council's work over the next three years from 2019 to 2021. The result of the vote came with the victory of the National Water Research Center as a representative of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, where Egypt won a seat in the second council of the Board of Governors of the World Water Council. Since December 2018, the President of the NWRC has been elected as Governor of the WWC Board of Governors 2019-2021 under collage 2: “Government and Government Promoted Organizations”. In these elections, NWRC represented the Arab Republic of Egypt where Egypt advanced on other international bodies from Turkey, India, Mexico, Japan and Hungary, which is the culmination of the Egyptian role at the international level by winning a seat in the most important international forums mandated to guide the policies of managing water files internationally. During the period of 18-19 June 2019, the Council's action plan for the current period was reviewed, where the water security theme was on top of the agenda that included climate change, integrated water resources management and the rights to water and sanitation. Moreover, Egypt hosted the 70th World Water Council Board of Governors Meeting as a side event of the Cairo Water Week that was held in Cairo in October 2019. The Board of Governor (BoG) meeting was attended by H.E. Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, NWRC President – as a BoG member, as well as a big number of the members from different parts of the world. The meeting agenda tackled the challenges facing water resources in Egypt; namely limited water resources, and highlighted Egypt’s water reuse strategy to compensate for water scarcity and its impact on water quality, water shortages.