LAHORE, Oct 17: The next annual governing body meeting (GBM) of Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management (INWARDAM) has decided to ‘establish channels for regular contacts among members of OIC on water-related matters with a view to utilizing information and experience of individual countries for the benefit of other members of the organization.

According to Dr Akram Kahloon, chairman, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), the GBM felt that the work of Inwardam should be more effectively promoted and projected among Muslim countries as well as globally so that water issues facing several Muslim countries could be resolved on a professional basis with the help of expertise in many members of Inwardam.

Dr Kahloon, who has just returned from Amman, the capital of Jordan, after attending the fourth GMB of the organization, told Dawn that water-related issues confronting various member countries were taken up at the GMB and the possibilities of greater coordination between member countries were explored.

He said that it had already been decided that the next general assembly meeting of Inwardam would be held in Islamabad and Pakistan was making preparations for holding the moot.

At the Amman GBM, ‘discussions were aimed at determining ways and means for strengthening Inwardam, making it more functional and more useful for member countries, he said.

The meeting decided that the organization should regularly participate in major global events on water. For this purpose, a pool of experts of Muslim countries would be formed to designate suitable representatives for such moots who not only attend the events but also disseminate the later developments and information in the water sector to Inwardam members.

The GBM also decided to update its website on a regular basis to include its activities, link it with other similar websites and obtain information from members on their work on water resources so that necessary data was available to all member countries about each other.

Dr Kahloon said that water had became a major issue for many countries of the world and some Muslim countries, including Pakistan, were facing acute shortage of water. This had made better and more efficient coordination between them more urgent and the update website should help in building and augmenting coordination.

Another decision related to the holding of Inwardam meetings in member countries by rotation and selected Bangladesh as the venue for the next GBM in November, 2003. This information has been communicated to all member countries, he said.

Inwardam was established in 1987 as a standing committee of the Organization of Islamic Countries on Science and Technology Cooperation in response to water-related issues of members of OIC. It was set up to ‘exchange information, share experiences and maintain continuous dialogue in the sector and create and maintain a data bank on developments in water resources management for the use of member states in accordance with their national interests.

The organization was also mandated to collaborate and cooperate in the areas of common interest to help each other build national capability and develop economic productivity related to water resource’s development and management.

Another aim of the organization is initiating joint projects of research and development projects to help member states in the training of quality manpower and render consultancy and advisory services for harnessing water resources.

Inwardam is composed of eight member states, comprising Bangladesh, Egypt, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Tunis and Turkey. Pakistan became member in 1993. The Amman moot was attended, besides members, by Iraq, Lebanon, Malaysia and Yemen also.

Dr Kahloon said that Pakistan had been regularly contributing to the efforts for enhancing the quality of manpower for the management of water resources and had held seminars and training courses for this purpose.

Two training workshops have been held by Pakistan for transfer of technology in water resources exploration, development and management through the ‘application of computer model designed by PCRWR experts while the second was held in January this year of the “Management of Agricultural Drainage Water”. Pakistan has also participated in numerous seminars and workshops conducted by Inwardam in other countries, Dr Kahloon said.—Zafar Samdani