His Excellency, Mr. Mohamed Abushahab, Permanent Representative of UAE
His Excellency, Mr. Coly Seck, Permanent Representative of Senegal
Distinguished delegates and guests:

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

1. The Group looks forward to the United Nations Water Conference, co-hosted by Senegal and the United Arab Emirates, which will be held in the United Arab Emirates from 2 to 4 December 2026 and recognizes the leading role of its co-hosts in this regard. We underscore that this is a valuable opportunity to mobilise political leadership and boldly address global water and sanitation challenges in accordance with the mandate of resolution 78/327, taking into account the national circumstances.

2. Water is critical for sustainable development and eliminating poverty and hunger. It is interlinked with ecosystems, energy, food security, and nutrition. It is vital for health, well-being, human development, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals across social, environmental, and economic fields.

3. The Group regrets that the world is not on track to achieve water-related Sustainable Development Goals and targets globally by 2030 at the current rate of progress, which has a tremendous impact on human well-being and on the three dimensions of sustainable development.

4. The Group expressed its deep concern that lack of access to a safe drinking water source, basic sanitation and sound hygiene, water-related disasters, water scarcity, and water pollution might be further exacerbated by urbanisation, population growth, desertification, drought, glacial retreat, and other slow-onset and extreme weather events and climate change, as well as by the lack of capacity to ensure integrated water resource management.

5. We stressed that developing countries need enhanced international finance, capacity building and transfer of environmentally sound technologies to achieve efficiency in water management and reiterated that ODA for the water sector should be increased.

6. Acknowledging that international cooperation at global, regional, and subregional levels is necessary to enhance the complementarity of actions and programs aimed at achieving water- and sanitation- related goals and targets, as outlined in the 2030 Agenda, particularly in developing countries.

7. The Group is concerned that more than 50% of the world's cities suffer recurrent water shortages. Estimates suggest that 6.7 trillion US dollars are needed by 2030 and 22.6 trillion US dollars by 2050 to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.

8. The Group expressed its concerns that water stress is above 70 percent in some countries, including Northern Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and Central and Southern Asia and South America, as well as the Lake Chad Region, which provides strong indication of future water scarcity. The Group acknowledg the additional challenges facing countries suffering from water scarcity and concerned with the impacts of such challenges, including, inter-alia, on their ability to achieve the SDGs.

9. The Group reiterates the need to commit to improving cooperation across borders, in transboundary waters, in accordance with applicable international law.

10. We also recall the commitment to step up efforts to tackle desertification, land degradation, erosion and drought, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity, which are seen as major environmental, economic, and social challenges for global sustainable development.

11. We recognize that the International Decade "Water for Sustainable Development" 2018-2028 aims to further cooperation and partnership at all levels in order to help achieve water-related goals and targets.

12. In this regard, the Group took note of the Water Action AgendaThe Group welcomes the initiatives and efforts that have been carried out to support to international dialogue and cooperation for capacity building especially for developing countries on water and the promotion of local, national and regional action on integrated and sustainable water resources management worldwide.

13. The Group supports efforts to ensure continuous progress in implementing the Objectives of the International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development" and the 2030 Agenda in a challenging and fast-changing environment.

I thank you.