STATEMENT BY MR VIVEK GANESH, FIRST SECRETARY, PERMANENT MISSION OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS AT THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO HOLD THE PREPARATORY MEETING OF THE 2026 UNITED NATIONS WATER CONFERENCE AT UNHQ, NEW YORK 9 JULY 2025

Thank you, Mr. President,

            Singapore extends our full support to the co-hosts, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates, and commends their leadership in coordinating the genuinely inclusive consultations which enabled us to garner consensus for the six themes adopted today. This collaborative spirit mirrors our collective sense of urgency in addressing the global water crisis and our commitment to accelerate implementation of SDG 6.

2          Singapore believes that these themes address comprehensively the complexity of the water agenda and ensure continuity from the 2023 Water Conference, embedding water as a pivotal UN priority. By building on the Water Action Agenda and retaining the core 2023 thematic pillars, we can bridge past outcomes with future ambition. This approach will allow us to refresh global and national water strategies – advancing governance, finance, technology, and  resilience – while confronting urgent challenges related to climate-induced scarcity and transboundary water flows.

3           Critically, the themes, especially “Water in Multilateral Processes”, position the 2026 Conference as a milestone to strengthen UN water governance beyond 2028 and 2030. We must harness this momentum to institutionalise the centrality of water across the UN system, building on and reinforcing our recent reaffirmations of the paramountcy of sustainable development in processes such as the Pact for the Future, the 3rd UN Ocean Conference, and 4th Financing for Development (FFD) Conference. Water cannot be siloed; it is a lifeline for all SDGs.

4           Singapore stands ready to work with the UN Secretariat and the UN Special Envoy on Water, H.E Retno Marsudi, whose expertise will be vital to galvanise actionable outcomes from the dialogues. We further echo calls for inclusivity – these dialogues must engage diverse stakeholders, ensure gender and geographic balance, and produce concrete, scalable solutions.

Mr. President,

5           As a water-stressed nation, Singapore is acutely aware that investment in water is investment in peace and prosperity. We commit to continue engaging constructively in this preparatory process, championing partnerships to unlock innovation, finance, and cross-sectoral collaboration. In 2026, distinguished delegates, let us not merely convene, let us catalyse.

6          Thank you.

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