Water for African Cities praised by UN Foundation Washington/Nairobi, February 11, 2003: Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, made the keynote address at a working luncheon hosted by the United Nations Foundation in Washington. Present were Senators, Congressmen, policy makers and planners who were interested in discussing the importance of clean, accessible water in the rapidly expanding urban areas of Africa. Mrs. Tibaijuka was welcomed by Senator Tim Wirth, President of the UN Foundation, who congratulated her on the accomplishments of UN-HABITAT's Water for African Cities Programme. He stated that it is one of the most cost-effective projects funded by the foundation especially as it is helping to control the wastage of water while improving the provision of basic services for the urban poor in municipalities across Africa. In her address, Mrs. Tibaijuka spoke extensively on this pressing development challenge, recounting her first-hand experience of the negative impact this shortage plays on the development agenda in Africa. At the World Summit for Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg last year, government officials, environmental activists, UN agencies, and other major stakeholders gathered to address the impact of human activities on the environment. As a component of the WSSD Plan of Action, a global commitment was made to halve the number of people without access to clean, safe, and sustainable drinking water by 2015. Through the efforts of UN-HABITAT's Water for African Cities program, urban water issues have been raised to the forefront of the international agenda and the fundamentals of urban water management are in the stages of reform. At WSSD, the Asian Development Bank announced funding plans for an extension of the program - Water for Asian Cities - and the Third World Water Forum has invited the program to organize an international conference on Water and Cities. Please get a photo of Mrs. Tibaijuka with Senator Tim Wirth, President of the UN-Foundation from the UN-Foundation website and read the Executive Directors Speech. For further information, please contact: Mr. Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson, or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Press & Media Liaison, Press & Media Relations Unit, Tel: (254 2) 624060, Fax: (254 2) 624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org, Website: www.unhabitat.org