Brussels, 10/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - In order to give substance to the target set at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, September 2002) to reduce by half the number of people without access to drinking water and sanitation by the year 2015, European Commission President Romano Prodi suggests the European Union should create a European Water Fund with a budget of one billion euros in favour of the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, financed through additional resources allocated to the partnership between the European Union and ACP countries. The aim of the President is to obtain endorsement from the EU15 Heads of State and Government in order to announce the creation of such a fund during the G8 meeting in Evian (France), and thus to give rise to other initiatives throughout the world as a message to show the solidarity of the rich countries with the poor countries.
On the basis of the water initiative launched by the Union in Johannesburg with a view to strengthening partnerships for action between the public and private sectors and the three parties involved, Romano Prodi sent a letter to the EU15 Heads of State and Government submitting the idea to them and calling for their reaction. He writes: "In the difficult circumstances the Union is currently experiencing, I wish to draw your personal attention to an initiative that could send a message of our peoples of Europe's solidarity and concern for the developing world. In Johannesburg last September we launched a European Water Initiative, which was very well received by our African partners. The Camdessus Report (Financing Water for All) published recently clearly shows that the target set at the Millennium Summit (…) is still within our grasp but will require extraordinary mobilisation of all those involved: bilateral and multilateral providers of funds, beneficiary countries, public authorities, civil society and the private sector. The 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, which has just ended, did not achieve this global mobilisation because no major initiative was announced to demonstrate our determination. Africa, and especially sub-Saharan Africa, where 40% of people have no access to water, cannot be left to face alone the myriad challenges posed by long-term water management. It must therefore be helped to develop coherent water management strategies, to set up appropriate bodies at national, regional and local level and to attract the public and private investment necessary. The European Union must demonstrate its solidarity through a major initiative".
In concrete terms, Romano Prodi proposes that this fund be financed from the "non-released conditional" resources of the 9th EDF (European Development Fund) as provided for in the EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement, which recently came into force. The European Water Fund would provide the technical assistance required for implementing water management policies, for carrying out projects and for cofunding investment. It would also have a role to play as a catalyst of initiatives for facilitating the mobilisation of funds from a broad range of financing sources.