ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ Ａｔｔｅｎｄｓ Ｆｏｕｒｔｈ Ｗｏｒｌｄ Ｗａｔｅｒ Ｆｏｒｕｍ

Invited by the World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)， a CPAFFC delegation consisting of representatives of Jiangsu Province， Shanghai and Qiqihar and headed by Ji Bin， deputy director-general of the Department of European and Asian Affairs of the CPAFFC， attended the Fourth World Water Forum held in Mexico City from March 19 to 22.

Initiated by the World Water Council， the World Water Forum is the largest international convention on water in the world. It aims at raising public awareness of the importance of water resources and influencing the formulation of policies on water to promote sustainable development. It is held every three years. The main theme of this forum was “Local Actions for a Global Challenge”. The forum consisted of topic sessions， roundtables with ministers， conferences of local governments and World Water Expo. More than 200 topic sessions were held during the forum. About 20，000 representatives all over the world attended the forum. The participants were mainly from governments of various countries， UN organizations， intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations， scientific research institutions， enterprises， youth organizations and media.

The CPAFFC delegation participated in all the activities related to local government. Ji Bin， leader of the delegation， made a speech on “Water Rights” on behalf of the Chinese local governments at the local government meeting on water. Lin Xiushan， mayor of Qiqihar and member of the delegation， and Yin Rongqiang from the Shanghai Municipal Water Affairs Bureau spoke respectively at Roundtables with Ministers on “Water and Environment” and “Effective Use of Water and Technological Exchanges”. They briefed the participants on the situation and experience of their respective cities in the above fields.

Paco Moncayo， UCLG president and mayor of Quito of Ecuador， presented to the government representatives the Local Government Declaration on Water adopted at the local government meeting. The declaration appeals to the United Nations and the central governments of all countries to increase financial input in the construction of local water supply and waste water treatment facilities so as to meet the needs of the poor for water.