General Director of İstanbul Water Sewerage Administration Prof.Dr. Ahmet DEMİR
REGIONAL COOPERATION FOR WATER
Water is one of the four factors that enable sustainability of life. If we take a look at water resources, we will see that they are not at easily accessible points / proximities in every single point of the world. Together with the lack of rain, severe droughts and particularly unstable rainfall that have come to be experienced at a profound level in recent years all around the globe, it is an indispensable necessity to be able to use the existing water resources in a balanced and efficient manner.
Being one of the hosts of the 5th World Water Forum organized with the main target of "Bridging Divides for Water" in İstanbul, İSKİ has endeavoured to assure that water, which is a challenge for more than one billion people in the world in accessing, stays among priorities on the political agenda.
In the 5th World Water Forum, we have addressed the global water problems with the aim of providing sustainable solutions. The second International İstanbul Water Forum, the first of which was organized in 14-15 February 2009, shall be held in the Haliç Cultural and Congress Center on 3-5 May 2011.
I am very proud to welcome you at the Second İstanbul Water Forum that will form a basis to regional cooperation on water, which is a problem of almost every country and individual in terms of floods and droughts, and I will be very happy to see you in İstanbul admired by every country and every leader.