Kyoto 3rd WorldWater Forum 16 - 24 March 2003. A General contribution by yhe OMVS High Commissioner

curb the implications of this crisis so as to ultimately reduce inequities and promote the development of . each and ail, thereby ensuring social cohesion at both nat iona l and international levels. The organisation that 1 am heading day, namely the OMVS, groups three riparian countries that are Mali, Mauritania and Sénégal. Early enough has the OMVS identified and clearly beaconed its prospects based on the experience acquired from three decades of successful management of a shared river basin. Standing today as an exemplification of stability and security and also as an unparalleled space of solidarity, the OMVS deserves support from the whole international community in order to continue its development efforts . The process we have initiated is structured and focussed on the following elements : o To securize, regularise , control and diversity the resources in order to meet the population's important needs for a sustainable development. o To crea te the optimum and structuring conditions for sustained growth throughout the Senegal River Basin (navigation, hydroelectric power generation) for the benefit of the most vulnerable population categories; o To open up new avenues and prospects for Potable Water Supply (PWS) to populations whilst improving services with respect to both quality and quantity. o To continue and pursue efforts aimed at ensuring more efficient control of the resource through the Reservoirs' Optimisation and Management Programme (POGR) whose positive results have today gained world-wide scope and recognition and whose management instruments, namely the hydraulic management tools and the Multi-criteria Analysis Model have turned out most valuable; o To valorize, protect and preserve our reserves of groundwater resources; o To improve the qual ity of Waters , in a thrust to improve public health and the living environ ment of populations; o To pursue pollution control;