PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR WATER MEET IN PANAMA

January 12, 1999

Plans for the Third Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management, to be held in Panama next March 21 to 25, are to be unveiled at a press conference in Panama City on Tuesday.

Panama’s First Lady Dora Boyd de Perez-Balladares will host the media event along with Mr. Richard Meganck, Director of the Unit for Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States (OAS) and Ms. Mirei E. Endara, Administrator of Panama’s National Environmental Authority. The press conference will mainly promote the hemispheric Dialogue on Water, but also other activities surrounding "Inter-American Water Week in Panama," March 21-26, 1999.

Using the theme "Facing the Emerging Water Crisis in the 21st Century," the Dialogue is co-sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the government of Panama. It is being organized by the OAS together with the National Environmental Authority of Panama and the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC).

The First Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management, held in Miami, Florida in October 1993, established the need for a continuous process to exchange information, technologies, and water management experiences in the Americas.

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