The Budapest World Water Summit starting October 8 will be the year’s landmark event of in Hungarian diplomacy, Deputy State Secretary Péter Wintermantel said on Friday.

Budapest expects some 1,500 participants from over 100 countries to the four-day event, among them statesmen, diplomats, scientists and businessmen, Péter Wintermantel stated. International water management experts will also attend, he added.

The Summit will be opened by Hungary’s President János Áder and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.

Hungary has accumulated great expertise on water affairs and it has a sense of responsibility, too, Mr Wintermantel said. Hungary wants to share its knowledge with the world and help work out recommendations to shape the water policies of the future, he added.

The Summit is expected to adopt recommendations for the post-2015 UN development goals, which are an extension of the Millennium Goals adopted in 2000. It will approve the Budapest Declaration, containing the adopted recommendations and goals.

Mr Wintermantel warned that if major changes are not achieved in water management, global problems in water supply will be apparent all over the world by 2030.

He emphasised that several African and sub-Saharan states have adopted Hungarian water developments already, for instance a programme used in Ethiopia which aids locals’ access to drinking water and creates opportunities for self-sustained farming. Hungarian programmes were adopted in Kenya, in Mombasa and in Uganda, Mr Wintermantel said, just to name a few examples.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)