The Asia International Water Week (AIWW) is a AWC’s flagship event which disseminate water-climate related agenda and global initiatives in Asia. It a triennial water gathering to discuss Asia’s water issues, release the joint statement drafted by Asian water leaders, find water project opportunities, and exhibit innovative water technologies. The AIWW is an inclusive water event where those who are interested in resolving Asian water issues can participate. There are three pillars of the AIWW, Asia to World Statement, Asia Water Issue, and Water Project Business Forum.

[1^st AIWW]

Overview

Based on the slogan, “Asian Solution for Water”, the 1st AIWW was held in association with KIWW (Korea International Water Week 2017) at Gyeongju from 20th September to 23rd September 2017. A total of 15,500 people from 60 countries participated involving international water experts from governments, organizations, academia, NGOs, and companies.

The successful hosting of the 1st AIWW served as a momentum to raise AWC’s status as a representative water agency to solve water issues and provide practical solutions in Asia. In doing so, the AWC became a platform for international joint projects as a multilateral joint program for the settlement of water issues in Asia with UN agencies, NGOs, MDBs and Governments.

Raise Water Issues in Asia to Global Agenda

One of the key accomplishments of the 1st Asia International Water Week is that AWC enabled to address and spread the water problems not only in Asia but also around the world through putting a focus on “Asia's resolution for solving water issue'' during opening ceremony, a Asia to the World declaration, Water Project Forum, AWC EXPO Pavilion, and meeting with variety of people from different nations.

AWC Booth

AWC Pavilion's promotional booth was open at the first floor exhibition hall during the Asia International Water Week, and the video booth was repeatedly playing the water problems of member nations and introduced to Asian and international participants.

Water Industry Promotion and Job Creation

At the Plenary Session, K-water vice president delivered keynote speeches on water industry revitalization and job creation. By 2030, 40% of the world's total water usage is expected to increase, and as the value of water increases, the water industry is rapidly emerging as a business target. Recently, it has been integrating with IT, BT and NT, and that the water industry is being developed as a future strategic industry in major countries. According to the UN Water (2016) report, three out of four global jobs are highly water dependent, and investment in water related infrastructure is economically viable and produces positive results for the industry as a whole. Finally, the goals for 2021 were proclaimed and the positive effects on water industry development and job creation were presented through the Asia International Water Week.

Sharing Knowledge for Business Overseas

The 1st AIWW held a special session to launch the Water Industry Platform Center to share information such as MOU for the water industry SMEs overseas expansion, overseas partnership strategy and the water industry platform center plan. A total of 39 SMEs participated to share the water industry platform center goals, programs, and plans.

[2^nd AIWW]

Overview

Based on the slogan, “Sustainable, Clean and Sufficient Water for All”, the 2nd AIWW was held at Labuan Bajo, Indonesia from 14th March to 16th March 2022. A total of 1,000 people from 20 countries (include on-line participation) participated involving international water experts from governments, organizations, academia, NGOs, and companies. The 2nd AIWW was severely affected by COVID-19 and faced many difficulties from the beginning. However, all the prepared programs were successfully finalized and this achievement contributed Indonesia to be nominated as a 10th World Water Forum hosting country.

Raise Water Issues in Asia to Global Agenda

- Asia to World Statement

The Asia-to-the World Declaration is a program to share and adopt a joint declaration on national and international water issues and to provide concrete action plans for the implementation of successful examples with representatives of all AWC members. In the 2nd AIWW, we made three different statements which are Ministerial, Parliamentary and Water Expert, in line with the 2nd AIWW overarching theme. Each statement has 8 commitments overall 24 commitments. These strong commitments are targeting to resolve Asia Water Issues for “Sustainable, Sufficient and Clean Water for All”.

- Asia Water Issue Session

Asia Water Issue of 2nd AIWW is composed of 6 main topics and each main topic have 4 sub-themes which is in total 24 Asia Water Issue topics and sub-themes are developed by Special Committee and AWC members, relevant to the issues raised by the UN SDGs implementation and key agreement. 6 main topics of Asia Water Issue are,

• i) Water for Sustainable Growth
• ii) Smart Water Solutions for Integrated Water Resources Management
• iii) Water and Climate Change
• iv) Water-Energy-Food Nexus
• v) Water for Ecosystems
• vi) Knowledge Base and Dissemination

More than 200 speakers and panels from 20 countries, joined 24 different breakout sessions during the 2nd AIWW in hybrid format, to find better solution to overcome the water issues of Asia.

Water Project Business Forum

As one of the Three Pillars of the 2nd Asia International Water Week (AIWW), Water Project Business Forum (WPBF) was held to promote development of concrete water projects, serving as a business platform between multi-stakeholders including governments, water enterprises and MDBs. The platform developed by WPBF is to share various water issues that need international attention for identifying business plans of Asian countries and to introduce relevant project experiences of water industry. This particular Pillar of the 2nd AIWW was comprised of the Session, EXPO and bilateral meetings between stakeholders (e.g. G2B meetings) to facilitate the dialogues between national & local governments and water enterprises from AWC member countries.

[3^nd AIWW]

Obejective

The Asia International Water Week (AIWW) is a triennial water gathering to share practical solutions to solve Asian water problems. It is organized by the AWC in collaboration with the host country.

Regional water problems that were discussed throughout the three years of the preparatory process of the AIWW will be raised as primary issues of the Asian water community and will be disseminated to the global water community with action plans to solve them.
The tangible plans to implement solutions will be particularly highlighted by organizing the sessions on the pertinent topics. Designing the future plans for collected action plans will be the core part of the gathering in the AIWW.

Stakeholders and preeminent experts gather at the AIWW to share their insights and experiences to support the activities of AWC and pave the way towards sustainable development in Asia. As the AIWW is held one year prior to the World Water Forum, major gathering for the preparatory process and the follow up action process will be held at the World Water Forum.