The 3rd World Water Forum has now passed but the water crisis reminds us why we gathered for 8 days in the Lake Biwa and Yodo River Basin, in Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka:

• Approximately 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and over 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation
• Of the world's freshwater resources, less than 1 percent is accessible for human use
• Every 8-seconds a child dies from water-born diseases
• Women and female children spend more than 10 million person-years carrying water from distant sources every year
• Between 90 and 95 per cent of sewage indeveloping countries is dumped untreated -polluting the usable water supply

However, this is only the facts & figures of the world. I personally gained much more from my talks with Forum participants, many of whom came a long way to Japan. The 3rd World Water Forum reflected the variety of water problems across its themes, major groups, special programs, and regional days. Thanks to all your efforts, the Forum has succeeded in creating over 100 new commitments to mitigate today's water crisis. So in this sense I think that most participants will return satisfied to their home countries. The Summary Forum Statement, one of the main outcomes of the Forum, states clearly the actions that were announced by Forum participants and the major commitments taken at global, regional, and national level, and finally the necessary recommendations governments, civil society, and industry should put into practice. In view of the world situation in March it was also a resounding success that despite military action in Iraq, all sessions continued and even most Ministerial Delegates stayed on. Peace demonstrations accompanied the cause for better water management. Further, the momentum built up in the long road map to Kyoto in the past three years saw water placed high on the political agenda and the outputs from Kyoto were adopted in "Water - A G8 Action Plan". We repeated it many times that the success or failure of the Forum would depend on whether new concrete actions would be followed-up or not. As a result of the Forum, we anticipate that the Forum commitments & new partnerships will be realized, but this will depend on all of us.

When we started the preparation for the Forum three years ago, I wanted half the Secretariat to be composed of foreign members. In the end, we had three foreign members, one tenth of the Secretariat, who helped towards making our Secretariat an open and inter-active working environment.

To include all potential participants of the Forum, we created a new method of participation preceding the actual event. As a result of our Secretariat's "ground-up approach" two new instruments were introduced, namely the "Virtual Water Forum" and the "Water Voice Project." Due to the enthusiastic participation in these activities of many multi-stakeholders from all over the world, I am confident that our aim has been accomplished.

During the Forum, all members of the Secretariat worked as players behind the scene: after all it was your Forum. As Secretary General, I had decided to take the stage only in unforeseeable situations. When such an event occurred during the Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure, I was forced to remind participants that this Forum was open to all, including those who oppose any of the issues presented. In return, it allowed me to participate in a truly impressive session at the Forum. To whom should I express my thanks?

At the end of this year, I will resume my duties as Secretary-General but I wish to assure you that the Japan Water Forum, the succeeding organization of the Secretariat of the 3rd World Water Forum, and its new partnerships, like the North-North partnership to support the South, will push for more action and keep monitoring reforms in the water sector both here in Japan as well as abroad. At the same time, we are giving our encouragement and support to any organizations seeking to follow the example made by the actions and commitments of the 3rd World Water Forum.

I'd like to express my gratitude to all Forum participants and the people involved in the organization of this Forum, in particular to the people of Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka for hosting this great event. I would also like to express my thanks to all the donor organisations that made it possible for participants from developing countries to attend. Without this unique collaboration, the Forum could not have succeeded in being a "Forum with a difference," just as we had envisaged!

"Doomo arigatoo gozaimashita" - Thank you very much.