ASTANA INTERNATIONAL FORUM 2025 FAO Panel Session: Water Security as a Key Investment for Central Asia’s Sustainable Future Opening Remarks

Excellences,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to welcome you to the FAO Panel Session on Water Security as a Key Investment for Central Asia’s Sustainable Future.

Water Security is at the core of our shared ambition to connect minds and shape a sustainable, reliable, peaceful and prosperous future.

2025 is a year of special significance as it marks the 80th anniversary of FAO – eight decades of collective action towards peace, rural development, and food security. And water security is a fundamental prerequisite for food security.

Water is life. It is food. It is energy, dignity, and opportunity, but water is not a gift from the gods. We should value water and use it efficiently, effectively and sustainably.

Without water security there is no health, no development.

But water security required target investment at scale and with a holistic design, around the rivers, around the mountains because water has no boundaries, it has a global circulation.

In Central Asia, water is a shared resource – from one glacier, mountain or river, it flows across borders, connecting nations and communities, and civilizations.

In this arid and semi-arid region, where agriculture is the largest consumer of water, and rivers cross national boundaries, water is not only a shared challenge - it is a shared destiny. Water is not only for agriculture, but also for forestry, for animal husbandry, for aquaculture, and many more.

The region faces a convergence of climate extremes, growing water demand, and degrading infrastructure.

In Central Asia, floods and droughts are growing more frequent and severe – like last year this Forum had to be cancelled because of the floods - costing lives, livelihoods, and nearly USD 14 billion in damage every year. And this is only the measurable damage, it does not measure the social, environmental and economic nexus impacts.

Without water security there is no resilience to climate shocks.

As highlighted in the Europe and Central Asia Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2024, water security is deeply uneven across the region.

Many countries in Central Asia including Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are among the most affected - putting agrifood systems, rural livelihoods, and economic stability at risk.

But Central Asia is not just a region of risk, it is a region of opportunity. I always say, a coin has two sides – you should always look at something from a holistic perspective and address issues overall.

To tap into the potential for opportunities we must:

First: strengthen regional cooperation, because rivers do not stop at borders. Effective, equitable, and forward-looking water governance must be built on trust, transparency, and shared benefits.

Second: innovation is key to success. This includes digital tools like Artificial Intelligence, but not only AI which is a fashionable term at the moment, but rather we should refer to ICT application which depends on the level of infrastructure of each country – we still have a lot of work to do!

And Third: we must invest wisely in water, such as through climate-resilient irrigation, to unlock a more sustainable and inclusive future.

This is where international financial institutions are vital in designing investment frameworks that align local needs with regional stability, and short-term action with long-term sustainability. I strongly encourage IFIs to invest wisely, and not mislead politicians. If you invest in a dam, you need to have the right design on how to use the dam for recycling, for renewable energy, for aquaculture, for livestock, for a better life!

It is not just about building a dam, which then creates a problem for others. We have to work in a science-based manner.

At FAO, we are proud to support countries to achieve water security, especially through the FAO Investment Centre, driving progress towards achieving FAO’s vision - as set out in the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 as endorsed by all 194 FAO Members - of the Four Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better Life – leaving no one behind.

We are further turning this vision into a concrete reality through impactful initiatives like the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative, which fosters partnerships to fast-track agrifood systems transformation and inclusive rural development.

That is why we established the World Food Forum during the pandemic in 2020. This year we will host the 5th edition, building on the very successful previous editions, especially the one held last year which saw a historical number of participants, both in person and connected virtually.

Through the FAO Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum, held annually as part of the World Food Forum, we provide one of the most impactful global platforms within the UN system, connecting countries with potential investors.

Connecting Ministers, Ministries, and above all connective rural development with the needed investors.

I am pleased to highlight the launch of a new Partnership Programme between Kazakhstan and FAO on sustainable water resources management and irrigation, which was agreed upon when I met with His Excellency the President of Kazakhstan in Rome last year.

Now, it is time to take action! We need less talk and more action!

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Let us work together investing not just in improved infrastructure, but also in strengthened resilience.

Not just in innovative technology, but also in effective governance.

And not just in enabling policies, but also in people - especially smallholder farmers, women, and youth, who are the guardians of water on the ground.

Let us not leave anyone behind as we shape a better and more foods and water secure future for all – for people, planet and prosperity, and equitable development in the rural areas.

Thank you.