Excellency Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, Chair of the Summit;
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!
First of all, I would like to congratulate the Government Japan in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Water Forum to host the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit under the theme “Water for Sustainable Development Best Practices and the Next Generation”. I am very delighted to join this important event!
On the 6th Anniversary of major earthquakes that caused many deaths and destruction especially a severe damage to the Kumamoto Castle, which is the heart of the Japanese people, I also would like to extend my deep condolences to the affected peoples and families in this province.
Over the past two years, COVID-19 has posed unprecedented impacts on global socio-economic development. Yet, this crisis has also made us understand better of the need for conservation and protection of the ecosystems and natural resources, particularly water resource, to promote and support sustainable and resilient livelihood and socio-economic development.
Certainly, water is an essential resource for development and quality living, but this resource is becoming scarcer and scarcer day by day in many parts of the world. This is due to human activities that are adversely affecting water source and its quality, climate change, floods and droughts, population growth and rapid development – all of these have been impacting water resource and the ecosystem supporting it.
Therefore, our approach towards water resource management today will determine the quality of life for us and our children in the future. In this sense, water resource has become a key agenda that requires us to work together to manage this resource sustainably for now and in the future through:
- Continuing to promote the development and integration of infrastructure networks to support water resource management at country, regional and global levels.
- Continuing to promote the development of responsible socio-economic activities and to support green development, especially for agriculture which requires great amount of water.
- Promoting and enhancing our digital cooperation to leverage the progress of digital technology development for the use and management of water resource in efficient and effective manners.
- Continuing to support programs, initiatives and activities that support the promotion of social sustainability in the use and management of water resource to ensure that all people around the world have access to water as needed.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Effective and efficient use of water resource is critical to sustainable socio- economic development. In fact, in the UN 2030 Agenda for the sustainable development, water is defined in Goal 6 on “Ensure Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for All”. For Cambodia, water is considered as “White Gold”- a driving force for sustainable and inclusive socio-economic progress and development. The Royal Government of Cambodia always recognizes its strategic importance and place high priority on water resource aimed to promote better management of water resource in order to ensure water security in the country. Cambodia will continue its commitment to collaborating with all stakeholders, under both regional and international mechanisms, to strengthen and promote more effective governance and management of water resource and the river basin, towards achieving “Water for Sustainable Development” objective.
In this regard, I firmly believe that our high-level political will, joint efforts, and collective actions, will indeed ensure a successful achievement of the above objective. Cambodia looks forward to fruitful outcomes of the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit – along with the Kumamoto Declaration, which will become an important roadmap for strengthening our joint efforts to ensure sustainable and inclusive use, development, and management of water resource for all generations of humankind.
To conclude, I wish Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, present here today, good health, happiness, and success in all endeavours. I also wish other related meeting success as planned.
Thank You!
