Art performances at the meeting

According to a United Nations report, some 11% of the world’s population, or 780 million people, have no access to clean water.

Increasingly abnormal developments of natural disasters due to climate change have contributed to the degradation and exhaustion of water.

Clean water will soon become a precious natural resource. It is also an important topic at international forums.

With the message “Water, water everywhere, only if we share,” the World Water Day 2013 especially stresses the importance of strengthening water cooperation, putting forth measures to evenly distribute water sources among sectors, localities and groups.

In his address, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung praised the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and People’s Committee of Can Tho City for organizing a series of activities on the occasion of the World Water Day, which would contribute to improve people’s awareness, behavior, and habits.

Water cooperation will make important contributions to poverty reduction, social justice, improvement of living conditions and educational opportunities, especially for women and children, helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the Government chief said.

This kind of cooperation will create economic advantages, maintain and improve water sources, protect the environment and bio-diversity. It will also help overcome cultural, political and social differences in order to build up confidence.

Prime Minister Dung stressed that Viet Nam lies in the downstream of two important international rivers, Red River and Mekong Delta, so it is important to boost international cooperation in sharing, tapping and developing cross-border water sources in a sustainable way.

He called for upstream nations to cooperate and share with Viet Nam for peace and common prosperity for all countries along the basins.