Political Process
Meeting of The Ministers
Prof. Dr. Veysel Eroğlu, Minister of Environment and Forestry has sent invitation letter to the Ministers of some various countries, who are responsible for "WATER and ENVIRONMENT" and to the representatives of the representative of some international organizations.
Istanbul International Water Forum (www.iusf.org.tr ) will start on 3rd May 2011 on Tuesday morning at Halic Culture and Congress Center with an opening ceremony to be held at 09.30 am. First of all, a musical performance of half an hour will be presented to the audience and the program will continue with senior opening remarks. Just after the lunch, it has been planned to carry out Senior Executives/Government Officials Meeting and Bilateral Meetings among Ministers regarding development of "Regional Cooperation on Water" in the form of closed sessions (Conrad Istanbul Hotel) in a different place apart from the Congress Center. The logistic support units oriented at the invited foreign ministers will be welcomed by the forum organization and extra security precautions will be taken.
During the afternoon session to be held as round-table meeting, the Senior Executives who will act as decision-makers will express their views and opinions. Following this meeting, bilateral or multilateral meetings will go on. Before and after the Senior Executives/Government Officials and Ministers meeting planned to be held as closed session round-table meeting, the press will take pictures. After the above-mentioned meeting it has been planned to issue a press statement.
Our honorable Minister Prof. Dr. Veysel Eroğlu will give a dinner in honor of Foreign Ministers, Senior Government Officials and Representative of the International Organizations on 3rd May 2011. During the dinner, a musical performance which reflects the culture of our country will be given.
Under separate cover, cultural programs oriented at introduction of the historical places in Istanbul for the wives or husbands of the invited Ministers will be conducted.
The details regarding the political process are followed up by Ministry of Environment and Forestry Assistant Secretary Prof. Dr. Lütfi AKCA. The necessary preparations are made by the "Preparation Committee" made up of the officials of Ministry of Environment and Forestry Directorate of Foreign Relations and EU Affairs, General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Forum Secretariat.
The Mayors' Meeting
As is known; during the 5th World Water Forum held between the dates of 16-22 March 2009, as the local governments, both local and foreign Mayors of provinces and towns, came together and signed "Istanbul Water Consensus" including the prospective commitments regarding water of the Municipalities.
During Istanbul 5th World Water Forum Local and Regional Authorities meeting, the mayors of 52 different countries signed "Istanbul Water Consensus" which calls the Mayors and Local Authorities for a common agreement regarding the management of water resources. In the meantime, the cities which have put maximum signatures to the Istanbul Consensus, have been entitled as the "Champion Cities" and the number of municipalities signing this consensus has reached around 800.
As the head of World Association of Local Governments, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Architecture Dr. Kadir Topbas has sent invitation letters to the Mayors of 17 Champion Cities and UCLG in order to deal with the situation as subsidiary activity in the 2nd Istanbul International Water Forum within the scope of "Istanbul Water Consensus". Separately, the Metropolitan Mayors and Istanbul Town Mayors have also been invited. The bulletin regarding Istanbul Water Consensus is prepared by ISKI and detailed information is available on http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/fileadmin/WWF5/Preparatory_Process/political_process/istanbul_su_mutabakati__son.pdf