The co-hosts of the 2026 UN Water Conference announced the co-chair pairs for the six interactive dialogues to be held during the Conference. In an effort to build high-level political commitment, a high-level preparatory meeting in Dakar, Senegal, initiated discussions and facilitated the alignment of actors around the six themes of the interactive dialogues to co-create a shared ambition for the Conference.
In a letter dated 16 January 2026, Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohamed Issa Abushahab and Permanent Representative of Senegal Coly Seck inform that preceding the selection of the co-chairs were “extensive consultations” that took into account balanced regional distribution, gender representation, and the capacity to participate at the ministerial or higher level.
The co-chair pairs, with one coming from a developing country and one from a developed country, will aim to facilitate balanced, inclusive, and action-oriented discussions reflecting the full scope of SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and its interlinkages with other global priorities.
The chairmanship arrangements for the interactive dialogues are as follows:
- Ghana and Switzerland: water for people – the human rights to water and sanitation, including for those in vulnerable situations, for healthy societies and economies;
- China and Spain: water for prosperity – valuing water, water-energy-food nexus, advancing integrated and sustainable water resource management, wastewater and water-use efficiency across sectors, and economic and social development;
- Egypt and Japan: water for planet – climate, biodiversity, desertification, environment, source to sea, resilience, and disaster risk reduction (DRR);
- Finland and Zambia: water for cooperation – transboundary and international water cooperation, including scientific cooperation and inclusive governance;
- Germany and Mexico: water in multilateral processes – SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and beyond, and global water initiatives; and
- France and South Africa: investments for water – financing, technology and innovation, and capacity building.
The Dakar High-level Preparatory Meeting for the 2026 UN Water Conference took place from 26-27 January. During the meeting, representatives of the co-chairs of the interactive dialogues worked with Member States and stakeholders to put in place the groundwork for the Conference.
To capture the outcomes of the Dakar meeting, the co-hosts of the 2026 UN Water Conference will put together a summary, which will include a ‘Roadmap from Senegal to the UAE.’ The outcomes will contribute to the in-depth review of SDG 6 by the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July, the meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the three Rio Conventions – the UNFCCC, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and high-level events held in preparation for the 2026 UN Water Conference, including the Fourth Dushanbe Water Action Decade Conference. [Dakar High-level Preparatory Meeting Concept Note] [Final Programme Agenda] [Letter from UNGA President Transmitting Letter from Co-Chairs of 2026 UN Water Conference]