Brussels, 08/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - After five years in operation, the ACP-EU Water Facility which forms part of the cooperation between the EU and the 78 ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) countries, funding investment to bring safe drinking water and basic waste water treatment facilities to people in the ACP countries, is reaching cruising speed.
On Tuesday 9 February, the European Commission will host an ACP-EU conference in Brussels to announce the allocation of €200 million to the Facility, from the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) for the period 2009-2013. The conference will also provide the opportunity to take stock of the first phase.
The conference launching the new ACP-EU Water Facility will be opened by Koos Richelles, Director General of EuropeAid (the European Commission's cooperation office), René Makongo, Chairmen of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors, Juan Lopez Doriga, Director General for Development Policies in the Spanish Foreign Ministry, and Ricardo Petrella, founding member of the International Committee World Water Contract and author of the Water Manifesto.
Reports will be delivered on three projects funded by the Facility: water and sewerage in the rural community Coubalan, Senegal; support to the civil society initiatives for the improvement of the water supply and sanitation sector in Haiti; and Integrated Rural Community Water and Sanitation Development in Timor-Leste.
The ACP-EU Water Facility, which has been in operation since June 2005, came about as a result of the water initiative launched by the EU at the World Sustainable Development Summit in 2002. In its initial phase, it received €500 million of the €1 billion conditionally available under the 9th EDF. (A.N./transl.rt)