EUSR`s Welcome Remarks at the Dushanbe Water Pre-Conference Forum “Frontiers of Transboundary Cooperation. Innovations and Actions for Water for Sustainable Development”
Your Excellency Minister Juma,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished guests, colleagues, and friends,
It is a great honour to join you today at this Preconference Forum, co-hosted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The theme could not be more timely or urgent.
Water is not merely a resource; it is the lifeblood of peace, prosperity, and planetary survival.
And climate change, population pressures, pollution and competing demands are testing the resilience of our water systems across the globe.
No country is spared!
In Central Asia, where rivers criss-cross borders and ecosystems bind nations together, water is both a shared challenge and a shared opportunity.
How we manage it will define not just our environmental future, but our geopolitical stability and economic resilience.
Glaciers – the natural water towers of the region – are retreating at alarming rates.
The Aral Sea’s tragedy remains a cautionary tale, but also a call to action.
Meanwhile, demand for water is rising: for agriculture, energy, and burgeoning cities.
Without concerted action, scarcity risks exacerbating tensions, displacing communities, and stalling development.
Yet, I firmly believe that water can be a catalyst for cooperation, not tensions – as a central force of the strengthening cooperation we see in the region.
When nations collaborate on shared rivers, they build trust, unlock economic potential, and lay the groundwork for broader regional integration.
This forum’s focus on innovation is particularly welcome.
We cannot rely on 20th-century solutions for 21st-century challenges.
Digitalisation for example can be a critical enabler of smarter, more adaptive water management.
Our EU Water Resilience Strategy addresses the multiple and inter-linked water challenges and recognises the economic and social importance of water resilience.
The Strategy rests on three pillars/objectives:
Restoring and protecting the water cycle.
Building a water-smart economy. Our aim is to boost competitiveness by promoting efficiency, innovation, and investment.
And ensuring clean and affordable water for all. This is based on the simple but powerful principle that access to water is a human right.
The Strategy places strong emphasis on efficiency, sustainability, and innovation.
A key pillar of this transformation is the rapid emergence of new technologies for monitoring and assessment.
Advanced sensor networks are enabling continuous, real-time monitoring of water quantity and quality.
Earth observation programmes such as Copernicus provide high-resolution satellite data that can track droughts, floods, and pollution events across entire river basins.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is enhancing predictive capabilities – helping authorities anticipate risks, optimise operations, and make evidence-based decisions.
Innovations are also emerging – smart meters detect leaks in urban systems, autonomous drones are used for checking infrastructure, and digital twins simulate river basin dynamics under different climate and management scenarios.
To implement our strategy we have therefore announced a Digitalisation Action Plan to promote the deployment of water solutions, such as smart metering, and unlock the potential of earth observation.
For instance, the Commission is developing a bespoke Research and Development Strategy and will soon set up a bespoke EU Water Academy.
As said: Shared waters demand shared solutions.
And for this digitalisation — and particularly interoperable monitoring technologies — can provide a common language through harmonised data, shared platforms, and transparent information exchange.
This strengthens trust, supports coordinated responses, and improves joint assessment of risks.
However, technology alone is not enough.
We need to ensure that digitalisation is inclusive, that data governance frameworks are robust, and that investments reach all regions.
The EU stands ready to share its experience and support this transformative process, including in a transboundary context.
And we are proud to also support innovation and new approaches here Central Asia, including through our Team Europe Initiative on Water, Energy and Climate Change.
Here in Tajikistan, we support modernisation efforts to improve water supply systems, irrigation efficiency, and sanitation services, particularly in rural and vulnerable communities, through several programmes.
Our investments under the EU-Tajikistan Cooperation Agreement include projects to enhance drinking water access, reduce non-revenue water losses, and strengthen wastewater treatment and through our partnership with the GIZ, we have also continued our support for climate-resilient rural development and sustainable agriculture across Tajikistan.
I look forward to the presentations and discussions today as well as an inspiration to us for the coming days and towards the 2026 UN Water Conference as well.
Thank you.