As I mentioned earlier, this Conference gives us an
opportunity to deliberate upon how the food-water-energy
nexus should and can drive future economic growth in the
GMS – which is inclusive and does not compromise our
ecological infrastructure for current and future growth. The
Conference provides us a unique opportunity to take stock
of the developmental achievements of the past decade
focusing on what lessons of success as well as failure we
can learn from this journey. I believe our deliberations will
bring out how critical water has been and will be to our
food, energy and environmental security; we will notice
that economic prosperity of the past decade has come at
a high environmental cost, and this growth pathway is not
sustainable. Over the next two days you will collectively take
a hard look at our current food, water and energy situation
and recommend actions for the future. I am also particularly
pleased that we have private sector representatives
to showcase technologies and innovations that are
environmentally friendly and promote resource efficiencies
and reduce wastage. Without private sector participation our
assessments and agenda for the future will not be realized.