The Government’s goal is to improve water related infrastructure, including clean water supply and sanitation for all in the next three years, said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The President was speaking at the fourth Asia-Pacific Water Summit which commenced in Kumamoto, Japan yesterday, via video technology.
“We are continually improving capacity, the quality of water supply schemes and initiating new ones to cater to areas with poor coverage,” he said.
This year’s summit, titled ‘Water for Sustainable Development: Best Practices and the Next Generation’, is being attended by Heads of State representing 48 countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan and representatives of international organisations. The summit is due to discuss various water-related issues and how to implement the recommendations made in the ‘Yangon Declaration’ adopted at the third Asia-Pacific Summit in Myanmar in 2017.
The results of this summit will be announced at the United Nations Water Conference due to be held in March next year as the ‘Kumamoto Declaration’.
“The Kumamoto Declaration is the compilation of the aspirations of top leaders to solve water related issues. We are trying to collect our wisdom to solve these issues,” President of the Asia Pacific Water Forum, Yoshiyuki Mori said.
Delivering the keynote speech, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said water issues are deeply related to a range of challenges in a society such as climate change and natural disasters, sanitation and poverty.
“In recent times, water related disasters have increased in the world. In the Asia Pacific region, water related disasters have tripled over the past 30 years. To eradicate poverty, it is essential to improve the local sanitary environment by using water. We will share our expertise with other countries in the Asia pacific region,” he said.
President Rajapaksa said even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government increased the number of new water connections to the public by over 50% compared to what had been achieved annually in previous years.
“Several projects to improve water cycle management were also undertaken,” he said.
“These achievements reflect the emphasis we give to inclusivity and to fostering participatory growth for all Sri Lankans, which is at the heart of my government’s development efforts. Despite considerable resource constraints, made far worse through the pandemic and our ongoing financial crisis, Sri Lanka’s commitment towards such development and towards sustaining a progressive agenda on the environment remains unchanged,” the President said.
“Sri Lanka welcomes investments, technology transfers, and financing for our sustainability efforts, and broader development assistance and cooperation for debt restructuring to support our economic recovery during this critical time,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Japan, Sanjiv Gunasekara attended the opening ceremony and the Heads of State meeting.