On March, 21, 2014, around 50 participants, including representatives of the diplomatic corps and representatives of the UN agencies Beijing Offices and private sectors, attended a seminar organized by the China Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China Office in Beijing.
On 27-28 May 2014 in Almaty, Kazakhstan there was held the Regional Conference "Prospects of water resources management in Central Asia: From the river basin approach to regional cooperation".
As a way of supporting the CGIAR Challenge Programme for Water and Food (CPWF, 2009-2013), approach in the Limpopo River basin, GWP SA is undertaking work for the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) to specifically package and disseminate the small scale infrastructure work package, a CPWF Research package that was undertaken on the Limpopo River Basin between 2009 -2013. The assignment with the ARC began in May 2014 and will be implemented until the end of 2014.
Preliminary planned Project Manager’s trip to the pilot sites at the end of 2013 could not be implemented due to various organizational, financial and visa problems. Starting from the first quarter of 2014 the familiarization with the ongoing work on the program pilot sites began in coordination with the national project teams.
“Water security is at the heart of our global development challenge”, said GWP’s new Patron, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as she spoke at Africa Water Week 2014 (AWW5) in Dakar, Senegal.
At the invitation of Mr. Wouter Arriens, GWP TEC Member and Senior Advisor of the Asia-Pacific Center of Water Security (APCWS), Mr. Zheng Rugang and Ms. Ma Yilin visited APCWS in Tsinghua University on May 28, 2014.
The Second workshop of the Integrated Drought Management Programme in Central and Eastern Europe was held on 8-9 April in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The International WaterCentre (IWC), in collaboration with GWP, is currently offering full scholarships (tuition fees and living expenses) for two high calibre candidates from developing countries to study the Master of Integrated Water Management programme (MIWM) in Australia next year.
In accordance with Protocol of Intentions signed on 20th December 2013 between the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan and Korean Institute of Construction Technology (KICT) about development of information system for water sector of Uzbekistan, Regional Secretariat of GWP CACENA arranged a working visit of KICT delegation to Uzbekistan during 11-18 May 2014. The delegation included Dr. Kim Hyun Jun, Director of Department in KICT, Dr. Hong Ilpyo, Project Manager and Mr. Lee Joonseok, IT Expert.
At the end of last year, the GWP network consisted of 13 Regional Water Partnerships, 84 Country Water Partnerships, and 2,904 Partners located in 172 countries. The Annual Report for 2013 is now completed and available online.