Luanda - The World Bank (WB) will provide technical support to the Angolan government to find funding for the water sector and continue its work to provide continuous access to water for the population.
This was guaranteed by the director of the Global Water Practice, Saroj Kumar Jha, following a meeting on Wednesday in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, with the Vice-President of Angola, Esperança da Costa.
Speaking to the Angolan press, Saroj Kumar Jha said the World Bank has supported Angola with a total of around one billion US dollars in funding, stressing that he had spoken to Esperança da Costa about the possibility of extending the projects, always looking at access to water.
Saroj Kumar Jha said that despite the progress made in the country in terms of people's access to water and sanitation, there are still challenges that the country’s government and the World Bank need to overcome to comply with the 2030 Agenda on Water and Sanitation.
"It was a very interesting conversation, related to the status of three projects we are developing in the country and also looking at the World Bank’s perspectives on support programs to facilitate access to drinking water for the population," he said.
Still on the subject of funding, Saroj Kumar Jha stressed that it has served to improve the economy, issues related to the participation of public-private partnerships in the water sector and the general improvement of conditions of access to drinking water for the Angolan population.
The Global Water representative added that access to the carbon market was also one of the topics discussed with the Vice-President of Angola and other issues that the World Bank will continue to discuss directly with the representatives of this financial institution in Angola.
Esperança da Costa is in Tajikistan since Sunday, where she is taking part in the 3rd High Level International Conference on the International Decade of Action "Water for Sustainable Development" 2018-2028.
The conference, which enters its third and final day on Thursday, addresses issues such as "Water for climate, resilience and the environment: source to the sea, biodiversity, climate, resilience and disaster risk reduction (DRR)" and "Water for cooperation: transboundary and international water cooperation, intersectoral cooperation, including scientific and water cooperation, across the 2030 Agenda".
The theme on "Decade of action on water: accelerating the implementation of the decade's goals, including through the UN Secretary-General's Plan of Action" closes the plenary, attended by Heads of State and Government, civil society and the private sector. FMA/ART/TED/AMP
