Statement by Mr Koos Richelle, Director General for Development, European Commission

The EU Water Initiative - a contribution to achieve the MDGs

Last year, in the margins of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, a reinforced commitment on water issues was launched by Africa and the European Union, with the signing of the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership on water affairs and sanitation (hereafter the Water Initiative), by Presidents Mbeki and Obasanjo on behalf of Africa, and by President Prodi and the Danish Presidency on behalf of the EU.

At that moment, the objectives of this Water Initiative were defined : to raise political commitment to water issues, to create a platform for reinforced coordination to increase the efficiency of development assistance from the EU, to contribute to the achievement of the MDGs and targets on access to water, to sanitation, and on integrated water resource management plans. In particular, support to the management of transboundary basins is seen as critical not only for the water issue but also to enhance regional co-operation and to avoid potential conflict. These are big objectives, formulated in strong words, expressing a sense of urgency.

There is a shared recognition of the necessity to move quickly towards designing and implementing programmes in Africa that deliver tangible results.

After Johannesburg, Africa and Europe have worked closely together in developing a long-term strategy to translate political commitments into action on the ground. We are working on the basis of a shared conviction that real, sustained action is only possible if it is anchored at country and regional levels, based on the key principle of ownership. The core of this process is to catalyse and support the engagement of all partners at the local, national and regional levels; from central and local governments, civil society and users - women men and children - private and professional actors, reflecting the multi-stakeholder partnership approach of the Water Initiative.

We very much appreciate and value the reinforced dialogue, taking place through the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW) and its Technical Advisory Committee, as well as in the framework of NEPAD. Through a series of meetings in Stockholm, Ouagadougou, Brussels, and here in Addis Ababa, Africa and EU have jointly prepared the outline of a Strategy and a Work Programme, which will be agreed during this Pan African Water Conference on implementation and partnerships.

We all have our experiences in bureaucracy and we all know how difficult it is to move from conception to implementation. Against this background, I am really impressed and even excited by the good work delivered by all those involved in the preparatory work, done within one year after the signing of the lofty documents in Johannesburg. I welcome this important outcome which will guide us through the implementation of our Partnership in the coming years. This outcome can also be a significant contribution to CSD12 where we hope to continue to work together to raise the profile of water and sanitation.

I do appreciate the systematic, step by step approach of the strategic outline to achieve the objectives in provision of water and sanitation services to the poor, and in integrated water resources management. In this respect, I have full understanding for the fact that it is proposed to start with a limited number of river basins. But let there be no misunderstanding : of course it is necessary to apply an open approach and to prepare for support to all African river basins. Both the EC, the EU Member States and other donors will have to be ready, and in fact are ready to provide their support. The EC is presently already exploring opportunities to participate in the challenging process, taking place in the Nile Basin.

One of the main outstanding issues is to make additional financial resources available if we want to achieve the MDGs, and the water and sanitation targets in particular. But donors can only make more money available if the African countries make water and sanitation a priority in their poverty reduction strategy papers and country strategies. Forgive me for insisting on this issue and allow me to elaborate a bit on it.

The declaration on Monterrey is not just about more ODA. It also contains a kind of "code of conduct" for both recipient countries and donors. The essence of this message is : all developing countries must be the owner of their own development, must have an integrated pro-poor policy, and identify priorities. Policies and priorities should be reflected in a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for Least Developed Countries, or a comparable paper for other developing countries. Meanwhile the first generation of PRSP's has been born and is used as the basis for allocation of ODA by donors. In doing so, the donors implement their part of the "code of conduct", i.e. supporting developing countries in their own choice of priorities, as reflected in the PRSP.

However, we have come to the conclusion that this system is not fully understood. I am struck by the fact that a lot of Ministers, heading sectoral departments like water, health, education, environment, etc may have never heard of a PRSP, or are of the opinion that that is something for the Ministers of Finance. But that is not true. The EU, EC and Member States, are taking the PRSP-issue very seriously : more and more it will be impossible to obtain EU-donor funding outside the framework of PRSP's and country strategies. The PRSP is not meant to be a fragmented vague policy memorandum. On the contrary : a true PRSP is the policy memorandum, accompanying the country's budget. The priorities of the PRSP have to be reflected in that budget in a comprehensive manner.

However, the own resources from developing countries and Official Development Assistance alone will not be sufficient to meet the water and sanitation challenges. Private sector investment needs also to be significantly increased. Another factor is the lack of flexibility of existing ODA instruments. The European Commission is therefore developing, for agreement with EU and ACP partners, the modalities to support the Water Initiative with significant financial resources to establish a Water Facility. The European Commission is expected to present a communication on this Water Facility to European Parliament and Council in January. The planning is to have a final decision of the joiint ACP-EU Ministerial Council in May 2004. In order to make that possible, the EU-side has to decide not later than March 2004.

The main objective of this Facility is to develop an innovative and flexible instrument to optimize the use of development aid with the maximum leverage effect to attract investments, and facilitate co-financing arrangements. It would support and complement African initiatives and processes, such as the African Water Facility.

It would help to improve institutional capacity, support processes for Integrated Water Resources Management and, most importantly finance increased infrastructure for improved services for the poor in Africa.

As you know, the European Commission has organised its contribution with Africa in three different arrangements : the Cotonou Agreement for ACP countries, the MEDA regulations for Mediterranean countries and the Trade and Development Cooperation with South Africa. EU Member States usually have more flexibility in their budgets. Whatever may be the importance and the reality of these different arrangements, the EU is committed to find ways to work with the whole of Africa on the water issue.

On behalf of the EC and EU Member States I wish to thank the Technical Advisory Committee of AMCOW for their hard work to develop the partnership and the AMCOW Ministers for their commitment in driving this process forward.

I hope that we are able to use these two precious days by deepening and detailing the consensus already reached. Let me already identify two crucial issues. The first one is capacity building. Always and everywhere a problem. How are we going to organise a successful, innovative approach to scale up capacity building and develop activities in different countries and regions in parallel, instead of consecutively ?

The second issue : how are we organising a comprehensive and transparent monitoring system ? Not just for control-purposes, but as a source of inspiration, a guide to best practices. Perhaps it would be an idea to come up with the water-equivalent of the Human Development Index, ranking all countries on the basis of their performance in water and sanitation ?

I am looking forward to discuss these and other ideas with you. Let us become very concrete. Let us move into action.