UAE favours Arab states’ right to safe water

UAE favours Arab states’ right to safe water (Wam) / 7 June 2013 The United Arab Emirates has stressed on the right of Arab states to access safe and clean water as a human right. Speaking at the conclusion of the Fifth meeting of the Arab Water Ministers Council, the UAE’s Minister for Environment and Water, Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, emphasised on this issue. Egypt and Sudan are able to resolve the crisis arising from plans by Ethiopia to build the Renaissance dam across the Blue Nile, said Bin Fahad, in a press conference at the League of Arab States’ headquarters following a pan-Arab ministerial meeting. “Patience and diplomatic relations are the way to solving this issue. The Nile Basin countries are able to do that through agreements and relevant legal frameworks,” he said. The UAE minister said as water was currently the most outstanding issue now, the need was to have cooperation between Arab states and a long-term action to address complexity of the issue and its overlapping with food, environment and energy security. Taylor Scott International