Water should be at center of climate, finance discussions: South Africa’s president

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA)— Water should be at the center of climate and finance discussions, South Africa’s president said on Wednesday at the opening of the African Union Water Investment Summit in Cape Town.

The summit has four goals, said Cyril Ramaphosa, which are “to endorse a summit declaration that commits us to scale up investments to improve governance and to increase accountability in the water sector.”

It also aims to “showcase a pipeline of 80 priority investment projects from 38 countries” and to “facilitate matchmaking between governments, financiers, and various partners.”

“And fourthly, we are also gathered here to position water at the highest level of the global political and financial agenda, from G20 and COP30 to the UN 2026 water conference, and beyond,” Ramaphosa added.

“We can clearly say that water must no longer be an afterthought at climate and finance discussions. It must be at the center of discussions. It must be financed; it must be tracked in terms of whether progress is being made or not,” the president stressed, noting that water could be a “driver of economic transformation, innovation, and peace.”

He called for building a world “where water is recognized as a human right and not weaponized against women, children, and communities.”

The summit gathers leaders and officials from African countries, as well as policymakers from across the world.