Introduction

Released	20/02/2006

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The 5th Meeting of the Working Group of the Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative (MED EUWI) will take place in Athens, the 22 June 2005. This meeting, opened to MED EUWI Working Group members and observers, will include a session on the Joint Process between MED EUWI and the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The Meeting's main aims are to review progress in implementing the 2005 Work Programme, to explore opportunities for the future, to identify long term priorities on water issues for the Mediterranean countries, to explore synergies with other parallel on-going initiatives, to identify means for enhancing partners' participation and consolidating the Component's organisational framework and to draw recommendations on the way forward for the Component.

The Meeting will be divided in 2 parts; its 2nd part will be devoted to the Mediterranean Joint Process between the EU Water Initiative and the EU Water Framework Directive, providing the opportunity to present and review progress achieved to date in the 3 thematic areas of the Joint Process (water scarcity – groundwater - rural development and agriculture), to explore synergies with other partners and to identify ways for strengthening the linkages between these 3 thematic areas/working groups.

The 5th Meeting of the MED EUWI Working Group will be organised in Athens on the occasion of and back-to-back with the 10th Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development – MCSD (Athens, 20-22 June 2005, Holiday Inn Hotel).

The 5th Meeting of the MED EUWI Working Group is also organised back-to-back with the 8th Meeting of the EMWIS steering committee (Athens, 23 June 2005, Holiday Inn Hotel), also aiming at strengthening synergies with the MED EUWI.

Furthermore and according to the “Organisational Framework and Modalities Document”, partner countries and organizations are kindly requested to nominate 1 representative per country or organization, as their official and standard representative to the MED EUWI Working Group. This nomination is important in order to consolidate the MED EUWI WG and its mailing list, to improve coherence and effectiveness of meetings and to enhance continuity. Nominations can be done by e-mail, by forwarding the name and full contact details of the representative.