Today's Date:

The debate this morning gives us an opportunity to highlight the crucial question of interagency coordination. In the case of water, considerable efforts have already been made. I am thinking in particular of the revitalization of UN-Water (interagency coordination programme for water).

Like others, I wish to applaud the establishment by the Secretary-General of a consultative committee for water and sanitation. We expect a great deal from it, especially better follow-up and assessment of water-related actions. We understand that, as a consulting body to the Secretary-General, it will have the support of UN agencies, specifically UN-Water and the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP). In the light of their experience in the field, the Secretary-General might consider the appointment, in this Council, of representatives of non-governmental organizations active in the field of water and sanitation.

The tools and mechanisms for interagency coordination and follow-up to water issues in the UN system are thus gradually being put in place. Beyond that, there is the question of intergovernmental follow-up of these issues. How will we monitor, at both national and international levels, implementation of the recommendations we adopt at the next session of the CSD 13? How will these recommendations be taken into account in the context of the International Water Decade between 2005 and 2015 decided by the last UN General Assembly? We will certainly have to discuss these matters at the next session.

Beyond this, there still remains the need to strengthen the existing methods of collecting data. We must have reliable, regular, comparable data at various levels: national, regional and sub-regional. We will have to seek the establishment of a framework that will allow for regular follow-up to the Millennium Goals. Naturally, we must move forward pragmatically, building on what exists in the UN system: the consultative council, various existing interagency coordination mechanisms, and regional economic commissions. Other actors could also join in this effort. I think in particular that the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico in 2006 could make a very useful contribution to this debate. Its preparation, especially the plan to hold regional forums, should make it possible to take the specific characteristics of each region into greater account.

With this in view, France has just asked the World Water Council to prepare a report on all the actions relating to follow-up of the Johannesburg and Millennium goals. Based on this report, it should then be possible to put forward proposals./.