European Union Water Initiative Plus for the Eastern Partnership

 

The EUWI+ Programme

EUWI+ started in 2016 and its overall objective is to improve the management of water resources, in particular of trans-boundary rivers, in the EaP countries. The specific objective is to achieve convergence of national policies and strategies with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and relevant Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).

The project is divided into three result areas as follows:

• Result 1: Legal and regulatory frameworks improved in line with the WFD, IWRM and MEAs;
• Result 2: River Basins Management Plans designed and implemented in line with the WFD principles; and
• Result 3: Lessons learnt regularly collected, shared and communicated to stakeholders.

The web portal for the European Union Water Initiative Plus for the Eastern Partnership constitutes a platform for access, exchange and dissemination of all data, information and services developed and used in the frame of this project.

Meetings and Events

Regionally, a Project Steering Committee will take stock of progress in implementing planned activities, review products and results, discuss objectives, on-going progress, issues related to visibility and communication annual work plans for all 6 countries.

• 6 July 2021 EUWI+ Regional Steering Committee, virtual meeting
• 25-28 November 2019 EUWI+ Week, Paris, France
• 15 November 2018 Second Steering Committee, Tbilisi, Georgia
• 25-26 April 2018 Project Progress Meeting and Strategy Development Workshop, Minsk, Belarus
• 15-16 May 2017 First Steering Committee, Brussels, Belgium

 The information about National meetings can be found here.

 

 2021 Quarter 1 Highlights

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Georgia
• Moldova
• Ukraine
• Regional

 

 The Implementing Partners

The OECD and UNECE are implementing activities under Result 1. Results 2 and 3 are implemented by a Member States Consortium including the Austrian Environment Agency (UBA) and the International Office for Water (OIEau / IOWater) of France. Experts from other EU Member States will also be involved in activities under Result 2 and Result 3 as required.

Close co-operation between all implementing partners will be ensured including project recommendations verified for cross-result coherence and duplication of work avoided.

Key focus areas under the new EUWI+ project will include the following:

• The legal and institutional framework related to water resources management;
• River Basin Management Plans; 
• Water Resources Monitoring;
• Analysis and laboratory accreditation;
• Data management; and 
• Stakeholder involvement and communication.

 

National Policy Dialogues under EUWI+

In Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the NPD Steering  Committees have been successfully operating as platforms where key national stakeholders meet regularly to discuss and advance policy reforms. In Belarus, the NPD Steering Committee is in process of being established.

The NPD Steering Committees at national level will be used as oversight bodies to discuss plans and progress of all 3 Results of the EUWI+ project in all 6 Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. Agendas of NPD meetings will be prepared according to the priorities identified in the country workplans. Under the EUWI+ project, the OECD and UNECE are responsible for organising at least one NPD Steering Committee meeting in each EaP country every year.