NEW YORK (WAM)
The United Arab Emirates concluded a week of high-level engagements during the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, bringing governments, businesses, investors, innovators, humanitarian organisations, researchers, students and civil society together into the final stages of global preparations for the 2026 United Nations Water Conference.
The UAE delegation on water was led by Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability. He hosted a number of high-level discussions with global partners to generate new ideas and secure concrete commitments ahead of the Conference.
These discussions covered several areas — building political will, mobilizing investment, and advancing technology and AI — with a focus on humanitarian needs through a partnership with UNICEF.
He also held bilateral meetings to promote the Conference and explore new opportunities for cooperation on water.
As part of preparations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised a humanitarian-focused event entitled ‘From Response to Resilience: Transforming Investments for Water in Fragile and Humanitarian Settings’.
The event fostered support for the broader steps needed to strengthen water resilience in fragile and humanitarian settings – showing how funding and investment can work alongside capacity building, technology, localisation and nature-based solutions to drive impact on the ground.
Following two years of consultations with Member States and partners, the UAE held a high-level session entitled ‘Water as a Strategic Imperative: From Global Challenges to Collective Action’ at United Nations Headquarters, where Balalaa called for greater political momentum on water and for turning that attention into concrete action.
The session brought together several Member States and international organizations, along with senior panelists: the African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment; the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC); the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of UNESCWA; and the Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank.
Balalaa also joined high-level roundtables with investment and business leaders at the World Economic Forum’s Year of Water session and at the US Chamber of Commerce’s feature convening on the role of technology in solving water challenges.
He reiterated that the challenge is less about innovation and more about implementation, saying: “We already know many technologies work - the question is how we scale them.
And, that ultimately requires finance. Governments alone cannot meet the scale of investment required to build resilient water systems around the world and reduce water stress.
We need commercial banks, institutional investors, development finance institutions, multilateral development banks, philanthropies, and the private sector to see water as an economic and investment priority.”
Against a backdrop of growing global focus on artificial intelligence (AI), the UAE water delegation organized a series of sessions on how AI, water and energy connect, bringing the conversation to private sector leaders, innovators, banks, financial institutions, investors and youth.
Furthermore, at Goals House, Balalaa joined leaders from Microsoft, 500 Global, and Xatoms to discuss how innovation, investment, and responsible resource management must advance together.
Outlining that the “AI transformation is also a water transformation”. His Excellency explained how AI sits at the heart of conversations and solutions on water: “The 2026 UN Water Conference is placing the AI - water - energy nexus at the front of the conversation and will provide the right opportunity to ask not only how AI can accelerate our economies, but how we can future-proof the water and energy infrastructure that powers critical digital infrastructure.
We get the nexus right; data centers can become platforms for local innovation. They can help cities use less water and energy, strengthen resilience, and build the infrastructure needed for the next generation of digital growth.”
A fireside chat with Ian Bremmer at the Clinton Global Initiative's Annual Meeting further explored water as a driver of economic opportunity, with Balalaa reiterating that "investing in water is investing in people”.
And, at the UAE Permanent Mission to the UN, the UAE water delegation joined the International Affairs Office and innovators to explore how AI can support hydrological forecasting, flood planning, drought response, irrigation management, and more effective water allocation.
Additional engagements included an opportunity for Balalaa to meet students from New York University Abu Dhabi and surrounding academic institutions, where he listened to their ideas on how to drive change through innovation, as well as joining H.H. Sheikha Dr. Moza bint Tahnoun Al Nahyan for an academic carnival featuring the R&D and digital innovations that UAE universities are deploying to advance water resilience.
Together, engagements across UNGA81 and New York Climate Week demonstrated that the future of water will not be shaped by water institutions alone.
t will be shaped by technology companies developing new systems, investors deciding where capital flows, humanitarian organisations working alongside communities, researchers and entrepreneurs advancing ideas, and cultural platforms capable of reaching people at scale.
Registration for the 2026 UN Water Conference’s Oasis is now open and free of charge – the UAE invites all to join the 2026 UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi to contribute to the global effort to translate ambition into action.
Registration for The Oasis is available through the official Conference website, with further details available across X, LinkedIn, Meta and Instagram at @UNWaterConfUAE