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Biggest global water meet kicks off

AFP, Kyoto
The largest international conference yet on water issues started yesterday with an expected 10,000 participants calling on governments to take concrete action to help some 1.4 billion people without access to safe drinking water.
The Third World Water Forum, to be attended by about 150 government ministers and several heads of state, will also discuss ways to raise awareness on the increasingly scarce resource.
The event, however, would only ask for voluntary pledges from governments and companies to help pay for water projects. International bodies have agreed that the world urgently needs to
double the amount of money that goes towards water projects from the current 80 billion dollars.
"Here we must look into publicprivate partnership, " said Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, president of forum organiser the World Water Council and minister of water resources and irrigation from Egypt.
"I think we can look for a balance between private companies' need (to make profits) ... and governments' need to support the poor," he said.
Water experts around the world already have set goals for their nations, and forum participants must pressure governments to consider water issues as their priority, Ryutaro Hashimoto,
former Japanese prime minister, said in the forum's opening remarks.
"Already a goal has been set to reduce by half the number of people with no access to safe water and basic sanitation facilities by 2015," Hashimoto, the chairman of the forum's National Steering Committee, said, referring to a goal set by the United Nations.
"It is now time to follow up and to ensure those goals are achieved. That's what the Third World Water Forum is for," Hashimoto said.
Representatives of nongovernment organisations are expected to join the week-long event held in Kyoto, Osaka and Shiga.
Delegates will take part in some
350 sessions during the week to discuss efficient water use in agriculture, climate change, management of distribution systems and ways to pay for infrastructure in poor areas.
International bodies such as the World Bank and UNESCO are pressing for the forum to move beyond discussion and announce action plans with a schedule for implementation and funding.
At the end of the forum, the ministers will meet on March 22 and 23 to issue a final declaration.
Messages from the forum will be delivered to the G8 forum of the world's top industrialised nations to be held in June in Evian, France. French President Jacques Chirac said in a taped message to the forum that access to water should be "seen as a fundamental right".
Chirac, who was to have attended the forum but cancelled his trip due to the Iraqi crisis, said "partnerships between industry and investors" have to be reinforced.
Vivendi Environement and Suez of France are two of the largest businesses active in the water industry.
Chirac said it was necessary to "determine a fair and just price -both a socially and politically delicate question".
"By its very nature, water is a public good. Nobody can claim ownership of it. It is up to the community to define rules for ensuring adequate supply and proper sanitation along with rules to limit waste in the spirit of social justice, sound economics and respect for the environment," he said.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Japanese crown prince Naruhito, Dutch prince Willem Alexander and Prince Maulay Rashid of Morocco. The Netherlands hosted the second water forum three years ago and Morocco hosted the first one in 1997.
A public water fair, featuring exhibitions on water issues, concerts and other festive events, is expected to draw 150,000 people, forum organisers said. There will also be youth meetings of young delegates.