ASTANA: An official from Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry has lauded Saudi Arabia’s water sector achievements, highlighting that the Kingdom’s technical expertise can contribute to the success of the central Asian country’s proposed International Water Organization.
“The government of Saudi Arabia has done a great job in making sure that it utilizes the technologies and other opportunities in making water available to the population and to industries,” Zulfiya Suleimenova, ambassador-at-large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, told Arab News on the sidelines of the Regional Ecological Summit in Astana held from April 22-24.
She continued: “I believe that some of these examples … should be maybe replicated and shared through the Global Water Organization,” referencing the Saudi-founded international body that began operations in Riyadh in 2025 with membership from Kuwait, Qatar, Spain, Senegal, Pakistan, Greece and Mauritania.
“We believe that there is a lot of room for cooperation … there are so many water challenges that I believe that it will not hurt us to have yet another branch who is working on — let’s say — those who are dedicated their work on delivering on water mandate,” Suleimenova said.
Suleimenova chaired roundtable consultations on establishing Kazakhstan’s proposed International Water Organization, which would fall under the auspices of the UN.
The discussions brought together representatives from 21 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, who participated both in person and remotely.
The initiative is a key part of the preparations for the UN Water Conference in December 2026, long-term planning for 2028, and UN General Assembly discussions on system reform and the post-2030 development agenda.
Saudi Arabia’s GWO showed the Kingdom’s commitment to strengthening international initiatives and addressing global challenges through partnerships based on cooperation between countries and governments.
Suleimenova said that the decision to propose the establishment of an International Water Organization within the UN framework — to address increasing global water scarcity and manage fragmented water mandates — was initiated in December 2025.
It followed a call from the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, during a forum in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
“This is a very new initiative. It was announced in December 2025, so it’s less than half a year that this initiative was announced.
“But we are already seeing many countries are stepping forward and supporting this initiative, so we are very happy that we are finding the sympathizers and like-minded countries,” Suleimenova told Arab News.
When asked about the potential for collaboration or crossover efforts between the Saudi-founded Global Water Organization and the Kazakhstan-led initiative, Suleimenova said: “Well, these two initiatives fully complement one another because Kazakhstan’s initiative is basically — is very specific in a sense that our idea is to consolidate at the moment fragmented water mandate within the United Nations, bringing it, let’s say, under one house and one umbrella, have the agency who will be owning the water agenda within the United Nations but also will be making sure that United Nations can deliver on the agenda as one.”
She added: “We also understand that Global Water Organization of Saudi Arabia is a very practice-oriented, technology-oriented, and is looking at also making sure that the promises are also delivered on land.
“So, in that sense, these two are very much complementing because Kazakhstan’s initiative is more of a high-level consolidation and coordination initiative for the United Nations, whereas the Global Water Organization has very hands-on and practical objectives as we see it at the moment,” she said.
The ambassador-at-large said that the two entities “definitely will be staying in touch and will be coordinating and speaking with our Saudi counterparts.”
Speaking on existing global water bodies — such as the Global Water Organization, World Water Council, and the International Water Management Institute — the ambassador-at-large underlined that the mission was not to overshadow these organizations, but rather to form a complementary body.
“Kazakhstan’s initiative does not make those institutions already existing, already established and operating, obsolete, and it is not really aimed at that,” she said.
“It is rather a complementary initiative. These two are complementary initiatives and we really hope that we will be working very closely with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Highlighting Saudi Arabia’s expertise in managing particular water and arid conditions, Zulfiya Suleimenova — during her 2023 tenure as Kazakhstan’s minister of Ecology and Natural Resources — visited the Kingdom at the invitation of Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, Saudi minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture.
“Saudi Arabia is an interesting country,” Suleimenova said.
“I very starkly remember our discussion because from Kazakhstan’s perspective, we believe that we are arid and semi-arid country and we have the water scarcity, and he said (Al-Fadhli), compared to Saudi Arabia, it’s a very different situation.
“I think he really kind of pushed me to think (about) the way how we’re watching and seeing the water resources.”
Speakers at the forum included Yermek Kosherbayev, minister of foreign affairs of Kazakhstan; Li Junhua, UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs and 2026 UN Water Conference secretary-general; and Retno Marsudi, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy on water, who delivered a video message.
The roundtable was joined by several Saudi officials, including Abdulaziz Al-Shaibani, deputy minister for water; Ibrahim Alhelali, strategic adviser for water diplomacy and international relations; and Nawaf Essam Bilasi, adviser, all from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia.
Faisal Hanef Al-Kahtani, ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan, also attended.
