Story
14 May 2026
United Nations and Embassy of Tajikistan co-host Riyadh seminar ahead of Fourth Dushanbe Water Action Decade Conference
At the United Nations House in Riyadh, ambassadors, senior diplomats, government representatives, and partners gathered for a joint seminar hosted by the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan, ahead of the Fourth High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018–2028,” to be held in Dushanbe from 25 to 28 May 2026.The seminar was not simply a preparatory meeting for an international conference. It offered a space to connect the global conversation on water with the growing pressures and transformations shaping the region and the wider world. The presence of the diplomatic community, government representatives, and partners reflected the importance of water as a shared issue that crosses borders and calls for deeper cooperation among states, institutions, and international platforms. Mr. Mohamed Elzarkani, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Saudi Arabia, opened the discussion from a fundamental point: despite the progress achieved under the Water Action Decade, the global water crisis continues to affect the lives of billions of people. He reminded participants that 2.1 billion people still lack safe drinking water services, 3.4 billion people do not have access to safely managed sanitation, and around four billion experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.Through these figures, the Resident Coordinator brought the discussion back to its human core. The burden of the water crisis does not fall equally on everyone. It is felt most sharply by women and girls, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, and communities already living at the margins of basic services. From this perspective, he stressed that water is not an isolated technical file, but a development, humanitarian, and political issue at once. He reminded the room that “water shows us what multilateral cooperation can deliver when it is serious and sustained.”
From this global framing, the conversation moved to Dushanbe. H.E. Mr. Akram Karimi, Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, presented the substance of the upcoming Dushanbe Conference, explaining how the Dushanbe Water Process has helped sustain dialogue, partnerships, and political momentum around water since the launch of the Water Action Decade in 2018.Ambassador Karimi did not present the conference as a standalone event, but as part of a longer international pathway. The May conference in Dushanbe comes within a wider agenda leading to the 2026 United Nations Water Conference, co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Senegal in December, and then to the 2028 United Nations Water Conference, which Tajikistan will host in Dushanbe. In that sense, the upcoming Dushanbe Conference appeared as one link in a wider international chain seeking to keep water at the heart of multilateral action. As the discussion expanded from the upcoming conference to the broader institutional architecture of international water cooperation, H.E. Dr. Fahd bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim, Head of the Founding Team of the Global Water Organization, addressed the Organization’s mandate and direction. Established in Riyadh by its founding Member States under the patronage of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, the Global Water Organization is emerging as one of the new international platforms working to advance research and development, innovation, financing, and the strengthening of national water capabilities.Through this intervention, Riyadh was present not only as the host city of the seminar, but also as a place where a new international platform for water is taking shape. The discussion around the Global Water Organization raised a central question: how shared challenges can be translated into frameworks capable of bringing together knowledge, financing, and institutional expertise in ways that serve the countries and communities most in need of practical solutions. The Saudi experience was also present as a national transformation pathway connected to a wider global agenda. Mr. Ibrahim Alhelali, Strategic Advisor to the Deputyship of Water at the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, presented Saudi Arabia’s water transformation under Vision 2030 and the National Water Strategy.He highlighted the Kingdom’s progress in integrated water resources management, the reuse of treated wastewater, desalination, and water innovation. He also pointed to two upcoming moments in the global water calendar that Saudi Arabia is convening: the International Water Research Center, announced during COP16 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the 11th World Water Forum, to be hosted in Riyadh in 2027. To ensure the discussion did not remain only at the level of policies and international conferences, the intervention by the United Nations Development Programme brought the focus back to long-term partnerships and accumulated institutional work. Mr. Asim Salah, Senior Programme Officer at UNDP in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, delivered remarks on behalf of H.E. Ms. Nahid Hussein, UNDP Resident Representative for the Kingdom.He spoke to more than two decades of partnership between UNDP and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in integrated water resources management, institutional capacity development, and evidence-based policymaking in support of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Through this experience, he reminded participants that “water cooperation is not a choice. It is a necessity.”
By the end of the interventions, the shared message had become clearer: the scale and urgency of the water challenge leave little room for fragmented action. What is needed is deeper cooperation across the international system, more platforms that complement one another, and more Member States bringing their experience and resources into shared frameworks. The discussion in the room brought together the diplomatic community, the Government of Saudi Arabia, an emerging intergovernmental platform, and long-standing UN partners, offering a close reflection of the spirit of the Water Action Decade and the broad engagement it was designed to foster. In the open discussion that closed the seminar, the conversation turned to the questions shaping the future: the role of artificial intelligence in water management, the financing requirements needed to accelerate implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6, and the importance of engaging women, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, and local communities in shaping water decisions and services.The Fourth Dushanbe Water Action Decade Conference will open on 25 May 2026 with Conference Forums and side events, including a dedicated Forum on Water and AI, before the high-level segments take place on 26 and 27 May at the Kokhi Somon complex in Dushanbe.The Conference will also launch initial dialogue on the role of water in the post-2030 development agenda, extending the conversation that took place in Riyadh and reaffirming that water will remain one of the issues that tests the international community’s ability to work together, not only in moments of crisis, but in building long-term pathways for development and stability.
From this global framing, the conversation moved to Dushanbe. H.E. Mr. Akram Karimi, Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, presented the substance of the upcoming Dushanbe Conference, explaining how the Dushanbe Water Process has helped sustain dialogue, partnerships, and political momentum around water since the launch of the Water Action Decade in 2018.Ambassador Karimi did not present the conference as a standalone event, but as part of a longer international pathway. The May conference in Dushanbe comes within a wider agenda leading to the 2026 United Nations Water Conference, co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Senegal in December, and then to the 2028 United Nations Water Conference, which Tajikistan will host in Dushanbe. In that sense, the upcoming Dushanbe Conference appeared as one link in a wider international chain seeking to keep water at the heart of multilateral action. As the discussion expanded from the upcoming conference to the broader institutional architecture of international water cooperation, H.E. Dr. Fahd bin Abdulrahman Balghunaim, Head of the Founding Team of the Global Water Organization, addressed the Organization’s mandate and direction. Established in Riyadh by its founding Member States under the patronage of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, the Global Water Organization is emerging as one of the new international platforms working to advance research and development, innovation, financing, and the strengthening of national water capabilities.Through this intervention, Riyadh was present not only as the host city of the seminar, but also as a place where a new international platform for water is taking shape. The discussion around the Global Water Organization raised a central question: how shared challenges can be translated into frameworks capable of bringing together knowledge, financing, and institutional expertise in ways that serve the countries and communities most in need of practical solutions. The Saudi experience was also present as a national transformation pathway connected to a wider global agenda. Mr. Ibrahim Alhelali, Strategic Advisor to the Deputyship of Water at the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, presented Saudi Arabia’s water transformation under Vision 2030 and the National Water Strategy.He highlighted the Kingdom’s progress in integrated water resources management, the reuse of treated wastewater, desalination, and water innovation. He also pointed to two upcoming moments in the global water calendar that Saudi Arabia is convening: the International Water Research Center, announced during COP16 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the 11th World Water Forum, to be hosted in Riyadh in 2027. To ensure the discussion did not remain only at the level of policies and international conferences, the intervention by the United Nations Development Programme brought the focus back to long-term partnerships and accumulated institutional work. Mr. Asim Salah, Senior Programme Officer at UNDP in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, delivered remarks on behalf of H.E. Ms. Nahid Hussein, UNDP Resident Representative for the Kingdom.He spoke to more than two decades of partnership between UNDP and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in integrated water resources management, institutional capacity development, and evidence-based policymaking in support of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Through this experience, he reminded participants that “water cooperation is not a choice. It is a necessity.”
By the end of the interventions, the shared message had become clearer: the scale and urgency of the water challenge leave little room for fragmented action. What is needed is deeper cooperation across the international system, more platforms that complement one another, and more Member States bringing their experience and resources into shared frameworks. The discussion in the room brought together the diplomatic community, the Government of Saudi Arabia, an emerging intergovernmental platform, and long-standing UN partners, offering a close reflection of the spirit of the Water Action Decade and the broad engagement it was designed to foster. In the open discussion that closed the seminar, the conversation turned to the questions shaping the future: the role of artificial intelligence in water management, the financing requirements needed to accelerate implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6, and the importance of engaging women, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, and local communities in shaping water decisions and services.The Fourth Dushanbe Water Action Decade Conference will open on 25 May 2026 with Conference Forums and side events, including a dedicated Forum on Water and AI, before the high-level segments take place on 26 and 27 May at the Kokhi Somon complex in Dushanbe.The Conference will also launch initial dialogue on the role of water in the post-2030 development agenda, extending the conversation that took place in Riyadh and reaffirming that water will remain one of the issues that tests the international community’s ability to work together, not only in moments of crisis, but in building long-term pathways for development and stability.
