Current Imperatives of Water Sector Governance and Development in the Middle East

Date: October 8 - 10
Venue: Prague Security Studies Institute

Moderators: Jakub Landovský and Jan Šnaidauf

List of Participants:

• Amjad Aliewi, Director-General, House of Water and Environment, Ramallah/Palestine
• Khaled El-Shuraydeh, Secretary-General, Higher Council for Science and Technology, Amman/Jordan
• Josef Janečka, Executive Director, Ekodo Ltd., Zlin/Czech Republic
• Jacob Keidar, Director, Multilateral Peace Talks Coordination Department and Water Issues, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel Aviv/Israel
• Mohamed Rafik Khalil, Ambassador, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Egypt
• Gerhard Knies, Coordinator, TREC, Hamburg/Germany
• Saleh Malkawi, Director, Water Reuse & Environment Unit, Ministry for Water and Irrigation, Jordan

Discussion program:
Unit 1: Equality versus diversity of experience from individual countries: Challenges, issues and solutions in comparison

Unit 2: Lessons learned and ways forward in Middle East water sector governance – through consensus toward conclusions?

Unit 3: Innovative and progressive – examples of projects (presentations with discussion, Gerhard Knies & Josef Janečka)

Unit 4: Issues beyond the scope of water sector administration – identify and overcome obstacles to progress and development

During their presentations at the Expert workshop and the discussions, the participants may want to touch the following questions:

• Regional cooperation in the water sector – is the idea meaningful if based on collective and united agenda? What is the experience with the Arab Water Commission?
• Do water authorities make use of a connection to international investment and funding mechanisms?
• Authorities on the local and national levels: transparent management procedures, good institutional governance and sound knowledge base?
• Is there an integrated administration system including water authorities, which can make competent decisions as to water allocation in different sectors of economy (agriculture, industry, energy, households)?
• Is there reliable data to base such decisions on?
• Is the concept of virtual water as discussed in academic circles a useful and practicable approach?
• Some of the non-renewable water sources (e.g. groundwater aquifers) are coming close to depletion. Is this an unavoidable situation or can the resources be preserved?
• Is the development of new water sources (such as desalination) the only solution in the long perspective or can major schemes of cross-sector water reallocation bear positive results?
• Do water administrations receive enough information about prospective projects in the water sector? Are they involved in their evaluation and the respective political-administrative decision-making?