VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono invited the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) to play an active role at the 10th World Water Forum scheduled in Bali next year.

"The Indonesian government would like to see SIWI actively participating at the 10th World Water Forum as a party in a working group as well as exhibitions," Hadimuljono noted in a statement received in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The minister stated that SIWI's commitment to supporting the implementation of the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Program, initiated by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) by conducting capacity-building activities and various water and sanitation projects, aligns with Indonesia's requirement.

"In accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Indonesia aims to provide clean water access to its entire population by 2024 and facilitate 90 percent of its population to access sanitation facilities, including access to piped clean water," he remarked.

He then expressed optimism that SIWI would be able to help Indonesia achieve its objectives by sharing its expertise and experiences.

The minister also invited the Sweden-based institute to expand the number of its representative offices in various regions, including Southeast Asia. Currently, SIWI is operating representative offices in Amman, Jordan and Pretoria, South Africa.

"I wish SIWI good luck in holding the 2023 World Water Week. We hope that SIWI will open representative (offices) in Southeast Asia by placing focus on climate change adaptation programs that can help countries in the region," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of SIWI Karin Gardes, for her part, said that her side has the Stockholm Water Prize Program that aims to present awards to parties that are successful in executing concrete actions in the field of water management.

"We offer programs to enhance the quality of expertise and governance in water management by focusing on the development of infrastructure and technology for handling water crises. It should be noted that transparent and transboundary measures are required to deal with water-related issues," she noted.

She affirmed that SIWI has a mechanism that can be implemented to connect cross-cutting issues, such as pollution and social matters.  (antaranews)