Abdulla Balalaa (United Arab Emirates) on the 2026 UN Water Conference - Press Conference

Thank you. I think the way we protect any infrastructure asset is the way we protect the desalination plants. As of today, during the circumstances and what we went through in the region, we haven't experienced any water shortages at all. So the method of protection remains the same. The UAE is not a country that can be considered an unresilient, if you want, or with any test, if I may call it a test, will be experiencing shortages in water or resources. So the method of protection for desalination plants, critical infrastructure, ports, airports, for us remains the same.

Thank you. Your Excellency, Mr. Al Thani, I thank you very much for this great opportunity. Mr. Kurdi is here. I have two quick questions. How do you see the future of the relationship between the UAE and the Kurdistan region?

The UAE is a country that designs its foreign policy based on a balanced, mutual interest approach. The UAE believes in dialogue, cooperation, and partnerships. And always, we are happy to have a dialogue partner with any region in the world. And of course, Kurdistan is not an exception.

And another question is, what is the UAE position on Iran recent attacks in the region, including your country.

I thought we were here to talk about the United Nations Water Conference. But again, as I said earlier, the UAE is a country that believes in dialogue with respect to international law and balanced foreign policy. What we're trying to do is to push for a peaceful, stable, prosperous region. And this will remain our approach.

Thank you so much. Syed Faisal Ali Shah from the Pakistan Daily. Since you have warm ties with Israel from 2020 and they are-.

Sorry, I didn't hear the first part. Sorry.

Yeah. Syed Faisal Ali Shah from the Pakistan Daily. So since you establish diplomatic ties with Israel and they have some excellent water treatment technology and advanced water treatment technologies, they are like leading in that. But in Gulf we have seen like Saudi Arabia, UAE and other Gulf nations, they are facing similar situation regarding the water deficiency. So do you guys have any mechanism together in GCC to curtail this thing to counter this deficiency? And if not, why not so far? And in upcoming World Conference, will you invite Saudi Arabia and our Gulf leaders as well to participate? Thank you.

I'll start with the last part of your question. It was publicly made announced that the UAE have invited the GCC countries. So of course, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Oman are invited. And with regard to the cooperation and mechanism in place, We have a great example that the GCC have a commission that allows for power to be transported between the six member states. Now, there are efforts under the GCC Cooperation Council. There is an idea of replicating the same in water as well. But with regards to shortages and issues when it comes to water, I cannot recall a day the UAE has experienced a water shortage. not in my home, not in my office, and not in a shopping center maybe I went to. But again, that doesn't make the world, if you want, immune from water issues, be it shortages or disasters. Thank you.

Just one thing. With the repeated attacks from Iranian side, are you guys are considering--?

Then he can come sit here. Thank you.

Are you people are specifically UAE, you suffered most of the time from the Iranian attack. So you are considering some specific technology or anything adoption very soon to counter that things and imminent threat from any side or any attack in that situation. You have any counter strategy? Thank you.

Are you asking about counter strategy for desalination plants? This is the same question asked earlier. the defense strategies are the same. Desalination and any other critical infrastructure in the UAE is the same. But technologies, yes, the UAE is a firm believer of technologies. And technologies in water is what we are doubling down on right now. Not necessarily in defense, because your question is in defense. But we're talking about generating water, transmitting water, treating water. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Alassane. With water scarcity now becoming increasingly severe due to climate change, what are the key priorities for the upcoming UN Water Conference, and what concrete commitments do you hope countries will make to address water insecurity, particularly in vulnerable regions? Thank you.

Thank you, Majdi. That's a good question. As I said earlier, no one is immune. from the global water challenges, if you want. And the numbers today are shocking. And it's a problem that, or a challenge, if you want, that cannot be solved by a single country or two countries or five countries. This requires cooperation. I just left the EcoSoc hall, and I was saying the same. So what we look for is countries, but also other stakeholders has a role to play. When we speak about commitments, the commitments doesn't fall only with countries. So countries would, of course, need to work on having the right regulatory framework in place, creating the right environment in place for the private sector, but also the lenders and financiers to extend or get access to that capital in order to fix the water or solve the water challenges, if you want. So the financial gap is huge. So we're looking forward to multilateral development banks to make some commitments. We are working also with the World Bank on the Water Forward Initiative. So there are compacts that countries needs to work on in order to get access to the capital allocated under the Water Forward Initiative. So that's when we speak, for example, about the financial part. But the non-financial part, technologies. We want technology owners, entrepreneurs, innovators to come to Abu Dhabi and showcase these technologies in order also to get in touch with the other stakeholders who can eventually help in making these technologies getting deployed somewhere else and solve the problem of billions of people as of today who lacks access to water. Thank you.

Your Excellency, my name is Aynur. I represent Silk Way TV channel of Kazakhstan. Ahead of the UN's water conference in your country, you probably know that Kazakhstan is also promoting water issues on international agenda, initiating the creation of the International Water Organization under the auspices of United Nations. So would you support this initiative and Are you ready to work with Kazakhstan on creating such an organization here on the platform of the United Nations? Thank you.

Thank you for this question. We were made aware of Kazakhstan initiative, and I think there are some information requested by the team. At the end of the day, the UAE will support any member state that is focusing and having the willingness to promote the water agenda, but also having the filter of implementation in mind. And of course, Kazakhstan comes with an extensive and good background when it comes to water. The UAE and Kazakhstan holds a good relationship, bilateral relationship. And of course, Kazakhstan, among the countries who actually personally confirmed to me that they will be present at the United Water Conference. And of course, we welcome them and we welcome other member states. So we look forward to our cooperation. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Your Excellency. My name is Nathan Guma, and I'm from Zimbabwe. I write for the Newshawks, and I'm also a Dag Hammarskjold Fellow. So my question is on the UN Water Conference and also on the future conferences. So what I've seen so far is that in Africa, there's been an increase in mining activity. And whilst there is an increase, there is also use of harmful chemicals which are polluting rivers. And this is also affecting, you know, rivers across borders from source to sea. So now my question is, are there any strategies or are there any plans when discussing on strategies on avoiding pollution by harmful chemicals from source to sea in regards to mining?

Thank you. That's actually a good question as well. The six interactive dialogues that will be governing the discussion in Abu Dhabi adopted in consensus last year here in New York. One of them is called Water for Planet, and it's concerned about how the relationship between water, but also in relation to climate change and pollution definitely is a big chapter of that discussion from source to sea, rivers, underground water, all these aspects will be covered throughout that discussion. We do have two co-chairs appointed for this interactive dialogue who we are trust that they have the right experience and knowledge in order to enrich this discussion. Japan and Egypt, Egypt hosted COP 27 and Japan has an extensive and commutative experience when it comes to fixing such challenges that you have described. So in short, to answer your question, yes, this will be featured in the discussion at the UN Water Conference. Thank you.

I think we've got time for one more.

Your Excellency, I think it was very clear at this UNGA specifically that water was high up on the priorities for the UAE. And I attended an earlier roundtable where you focused a lot on implementation. So I wanted to ask what have the conversations been like? Has it been gaining the momentum that the UAE and that you had hoped for? And you just mentioned something about GCC mechanism in the water sector. So could you just briefly expand on that, please?

Thank you. Yes, since the beginning of this process, the UAE mentioned, with Senegal, of course, that the UN Water Conference 2026 will be focusing on implementation. As of today, There are extensive work has been done, especially by our 12 co-chairs appointed for the six interactive dialogues. But also, we are promising the word that the UAE will do its part. And we also expect the international community and other member states to come with commitments that are implementation focused and eventually can move the needle and get access to those who are in need, quantified at billions as of today. With regards to the mechanisms I mentioned, His Excellency Jassim Al-Badawi, the Under-Secretary of the GCC, mentioned it in his remarks also today. There is a discussion among the six member states under the GCC Council in order to create a mechanism or initiative, if you want, evolves around water. The details maybe is not the time to disclose it, but the GCC member states understands and realize how important is water and how important is the subject and we are all taking it seriously. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Our delegation was led by President Icahordan that highlighted in the speech in the plenary our support for multilateralism and the UN reform as we were involved in the UN 80 agenda. Romania continues to stand as a strong supporter for peace in the region. For Ukraine, we have condemned the illegal war of aggression that Russia is carrying in our region and we have reaffirmed our support for the two-state a solution when it comes to the situation in Gaza and our support for the two-state solution, longstanding one. In terms of the agenda of the last days, we have held ministerial meetings on maritime security, specifically Romania together with France, Ukraine, and Kaja Kallas from the European Commission. We have co-chaired a panel on maritime security, specifically on access to food and the preventing a food crisis by restoring the commercial lanes in the, in the Black Sea and the solidarity, uh, lanes. Also, we have had the opportunity throughout these days to discuss our year long involvement in the reforms that we consider that United Nations, um, needs through the UN 80 initiative, but also through Romania's role of having the presidency of the executive board of UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, and also our involvement in the Princeton group. Throughout these days, we focused on the use of artificial intelligence because we want to balance the economic growth and technological needs of our economies, but in the same time, be mindful of the need of security, be mindful of the need of time to adapt for our societies, our generation, and specifically our children. We have joined the AI Opportunity Statement and a call for controlled frontier AI models on Romania's behalf, and also the national statement in the high-level meeting on tackling sea level rises. Today, we have hosted the ministerial meeting of the countries involved in the Central European Initiative. We also hold the leadership for the Southeastern European Cooperation Process. I'm mentioning this because we believe that connectivity in our region, be it through roads, railway, fluvial connectivity, and increasing the infrastructure at the port of Constanta, port of Giurgiu, and our capacity to support, higher commercial volumes at the Black Sea are essential not just for the region, but also Romania's role in connecting Europe with the South Caucasus, Asia, and the Middle East. Now, I want to focus on the next remarks on the effect that the Russia's war of aggression has on the Black Sea and what are our current actions in that direction. Russia's continuous attacks against Ukraine ports and maritime infrastructure are not only attacks against Ukraine, but they have generated a number of security incidents in Romania's eastern border on the Danube and the Black Sea. Now, currently, the Black Sea in 2026 is one of the deadliest maritime globally for merchants and seafarers. And I'm not saying that just to highlight the risks that are now present at the Black Sea, but to support the international diplomatic efforts to generate a ceasefire at the Black Sea, and also our own investments and our own decisions to have a stronger force response team, force capacity at the Black Sea, and we have done so in recent incidents. We are grateful that to the personnel that has taken on this risk and been able to generate a proper force response. We have also increased our partnership with Bulgaria and Turkey from the mining operations to inside our common military partnership to protect critical infrastructure. Now, We are also in the process of increasing the monitoring capacities by international collaboration. We, together with Bulgaria, have proposed to the European institutions the project to have a EU maritime security hub in Constanta and, respectfully, Varna to allow for enhanced analytical capabilities, better first responder reactions, but also a better coordination with the countries at the Black Sea. We have expanded our capacity across the entire logistical chains in the port of Constanta, Lower Danube, but border crossing and along our road and rail connections. Now, we are doing so in coordination with Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, the European Commission, and inside the EU Solidarity Lanes frameworks. That has meant national investment, but it also means a priority for European Union funding as we are negotiating the next budget, and it is also part of our core agenda with international investors and, um, uh, multilateral banks. Another aspect when it comes to the Black Sea is energy. We are currently in Romania, um, one of the core natural gas producers inside the European Union. With the Neptune Deep project at the Black Sea, our natural, uh, gas next year, we're going to have an increase in our volume by 80%, and that, we believe, is also a very important for, uh, access to affordable and sustainable energy in the region as well, that is why we strongly support the global gateway projects, investment processes, also the free seas initiative where we have taken the decision in Romania to allocate 50 million euros to the fund of funds for strategic, um, investments there. Now, our purpose here at UN and throughout the day has been to support the initiative to have a moratorium on effect on attacks on the Black Sea that affect food exports. And therefore, the moratorium can could serve, first of all, to allow access to, um, grains in a proper manner for the countries that need it the most, And in the same time, as a confidence building measure, not as a replacement of the peace negotiations of the, the peace process, but rather as a confidence building measure and the preparation in that, um, direction. Now, the Black Sea must once again become a total space for free trade, international law, and cooperation. And we stand ready to continue doing our part by keeping these maritime lifelines open. That requires also a sustained commitment of the international community, and that is why here, throughout these days, we have continued dialogue at the UN level, at the European Union, and with all our allies and partners. When it comes to, uh, the global food supply chain, when it comes to grains, when it comes to sunflower seeds, we need to remind ourselves that bread, uh, can never be weaponized and access to food is absolutely essential everywhere in the world, whenever we see, um… disruptions at the commercial lanes on the Black Sea, we see an increase in prices to the countries that are more sensitive to that. Restoring a secure area in the Black Sea, increasing on our side the capacity for the port of Constanta and the operational capacity supports global food supplies and is also an essential mechanism for the resilience needed