Congratulatory Remarks of the Swiss Ambassador in Albania, H.E. Ruth Huber at the Opening Ceremony of the 11^th Balkans Joint Conference and Exhibition

Dear Presidents of the Albanian and Kosovo Water Associations Mr. Tare and Mr Shabani,

Dear partners,

Congratulations on bringing together stakeholders and institutions that manage the water sector.

In the invitation and the program of this conference, it is stated clearly: we have to accelerate change in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 – ensuring access to safely managed water and sanitation services. Switzerland fully supports efforts to meet this goal as part of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda.

Access to water and sanitation services is a human right and a fundamental enabler of economic prosperity. But throughout the world there are still segments of the population that lack access to these services.

Therefore, support in the water sector has been a significant part of Switzerland’s international cooperation efforts. The Swiss cooperation programme in Albania and also in Kosovo has a dedicated component for supporting the water sector.

Switzerland has been engaging with Albania in the water sector for over two decades. Since 2003, we have provided a total grant contribution of 42 million Swiss francs to support sustainable water supply and wastewater management services through joint programmes with Germany, the EU and the World Bank. Switzerland also supports broader initiatives in the Western Balkans such as the Regional Capacity Development Network and the newly launched Utilities of the Future – Centre of Excellence. In our view, this is key for promoting economic growth and sustainable prosperity in the country.

As Albania’s water sector reform progresses, the focus is now on tackling challenges such as low cost coverage and service bills collection rates, high debts and technical and commercial losses, informal connections and obsolete infrastructure.

There are three key features of our Swiss contribution in this sector:

Firstly, Switzerland puts at the heart of its support the institutional strengthening of water utilities, building effective, efficient and resilient utilities which can deliver safely managed services to the population, in line with SDG6. This has the ultimate goal of delivering high-quality services to the populations.

Secondly, Switzerland has been supporting performance-based mechanisms at two levels: within water utilities and at the sector level. An example is the innovative financing instrument of the World Bank called “Program for Results” (“P for R”) used to support the sector reform in Albania.

Thirdly, Switzerland promotes a holistic approach, considering the entire urban water cycle – including water supply, wastewater, and stormwater management. The links between disaster risk management, urban development and water are increasingly relevant in the face of climate change.

Overall, the Swiss approach aims to enable the sustainable operation and maintenance of new and existing infrastructure. As such, it is indirectly contributing to the sustainability of all investments made in the water supply and wastewater sector.

Dear partners, I also congratulate you for the fact that this conference is led by water sector associations! SHUKOS and SHUKALB are long-standing partners of the Regional Capacity Development Network (RCDN) and we are pleased to see their growing contributions to knowledge sharing, networking and exchanges in the water sector across the region. It is great to see professional associations that are active, contributing to knowledge sharing, networking and exchanges.

I wish you fruitful discussions during the next two days.

Faleminderit!