Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Atty has met with Eman El-Sayed, Head of the ministry’s Planning Sector, to discuss the preparations for the upcoming annual Cairo Water Week (CWW) conference.
The upcoming conference will take place on 24 to 28 October 2021 under the theme “Water, Population and Global Change: Challenges and Opportunities”.
The ministry said that it has, for a variety of reasons, selected the population issue, the first time such a subject will be discussed at an international conference or event.
Population has a direct impact on the water sector, as a result of severe pressures on demand to meet the population’s needs for drinking and irrigation water and to provide food. This is in addition to implementing economic activities that accommodate the steady increase in the population and provide job opportunities for people.
Abdel Atty said that this year’s conference is the fourth in a series of conferences that started in 2018 with the aim of enhancing communication between water organisations, water sector-related industries, and regional and international bodies and related communities.
The minister noted that the 2021 Cairo Water Week is a culmination of the success achieved by the three previous editions.
He added that the CWW has become one of the most important and largest events related to water and sustainable development in Egypt and the Middle East.
The event aims to promote water awareness, foster new thinking around the most pressing water-related challenges, and take actions towards integrated water resources management and conservation.
A number of ministers, official delegations, and senior officials in the water sector and other related sectors from around the world will participate in the event. Also present at the event will be scientists, parliamentarians, international organisations and institutes and civil society organisations.
It will include presentations and the participation of prominent international speakers in more than 70 technical sessions. An exhibition will be held on the sidelines, featuring modern irrigation technology, smart irrigation, and water reuse methods.
Meanwhile, the conference’s Scientific Committee has received several research abstracts, which are being evaluated and selected for presentation at the conference. These will be published in the upcoming issue of the Journal of Water Sciences of the National Center for Water Research.
The committee earlier received 150 local and international research abstracts from several countries including: France; Germany; India; Japan; Jordan; Lebanon; Libya; Mauritania; Morocco; the Netherlands; Palestine; Spain; Tunisia; Uganda; the UK; and the US.
