K-Water leads regional meeting on water problems

South Korea’s state-run Korea Water Resources Corp., or K-Water, last week chaired a key regional council meeting to discuss Asia’s water problems, as part of its initiative to alleviate water scarcity and to promote jobs in the water industries.

The sixth annual meeting of the Asia Water Council, the largest regional body dedicated to water-related problems, was held in Bangkok from Thursday to Saturday, officials said Sunday.

The AWC, established in March 2016 under the leadership of the South Korean government and K-Water, currently has some 130 members including regional governments and international organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Asia Development Bank.

In this year’s meeting, participants reviewed the progress in water projects carried out in Cambodia and Vietnam and discussed the impact of climate change on water management in the Asian region, officials said.

K-Water also published and presented a white paper on Asia International Water Week held in Gyeongju in September last year, sharing the country’s recent measures taken on water problems and promoting another event to take place this year.

“Our vision is to make the best use of the AWC’s platform to solve regional water problems and to promote domestic jobs in the water-related industries,” said K-Water CEO Lee Hak-soo.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)