The workshop provided a platform to discuss the different legal frameworks for cooperation on shared waters resources and in particular the opportunity that the globalization of the Water Convention represents for the Arab region. Participants acknowledged that the Water Convention can be a source of inspiration for progress in the management of shared surface waters and groundwaters in the Arab region and neighbouring States. 

The workshop was held under the patronage of the Minister of Agriculture of Tunisia. It was jointly organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Center of Water Studies and Arab Water Security of the League of Arab States and the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med), in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and with the support of France, Switzerland and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (IW:LEARN).

This Workshop was a follow-up to the International Roundtable on Transboundary Water Resources Management in the Southern Mediterranean and responded the request expressed in June 2013 by the Arab Ministerial Water Council, which operates within the framework of the League of Arab States.

Please consult the related press release: Arab countries study the benefits of joining the UNECE Water Convention