Friends of Europe
Guy Verhofstadt: The former Prime Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, sets the international financial crisis in its historic context, depicts its far-reaching geopolitical corollaries and, above all, attends to the biggest challenge Europe ever faced: what should be the European Union’s answer to the financial crisis?
13/11/2008 Read more
Pascal Lamy: WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy reported on 12 November that his meeting with experts earlier in the day “confirmed that the market for trade finance has severely deteriorated”. He urged government action to close the liquidity gap in trade finance, adding that concluding the Doha Round “is even more desirable now”.
12/11/2008 Read more

22 March 2008 is World Water Day
Saturday, March 22, 2008
This day was first formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Observance began in 1993 and has grown significantly ever since.


The United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water by adopting a resolution. States were invited to devote the Day to implement the UN recommendations and set up concrete activities as deemed appropriate in the national context.

The Subcommittee welcomes the assistance offered by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre to contribute to an information network centre in support of the observance of the Day by Governments, as required.

Friends of Europe has been organising high-level European Policy Summits on water-related issues since 2006. Follow the links below for more information on these.

European Policy Summit 2008: Saving Europe's Water: Its Place in the EU's Green Strategy
European Policy Summit 2007: Water Security: Does Europe have a Strategy?
European Policy Summit 2006: The World’s Water Crisis: Turning the tide – Policies for the future

For more information on World Water Day, click here.