Slovenia advocates stronger intl cooperation on waters

The meeting features around 600 participants from 100 countries and Novak said this cooperation is "more than just words, it results in tangible action."

Noting that many countries stand to benefit from Slovenia's experience - and vice versa - he called on country representatives to tackle problems caused by massive floods of the kind Slovenia experiences in August 2023.

Slovenia is now in the midst of a multi-year reconstruction effort that will make it more resilient to climate change.

"We need more planners, designers and experts, because our experts are flooded with work. I am convinced that such cooperation will benefit Slovenia as well," he said.

Tatiana Molcean, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), said cooperation in the framework of the Waters Convention had been ongoing for three decades but had become more ambitious of late.

No more than three years ago "we were fighting to make cooperation in waters a part of the global agenda." Now, events such as droughts and floods have led to "increased interest by countries to become involved and contribute to change at the global level," she said.

The Ljubljana meeting marks the start of Slovenia's three-year presidency of the Waters Convention. Molcean said chairing this process is "a very demanding and responsible job" with new countries joining and great expectations having to be met.