DUSHANBE, October 20, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- President Emomali Rahmon today received Ms. Kenza Kaouakib-Robinson, Secretary of UN-Water.

According to the presidential press service, the sides discussed issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and the United Nations on water consumption.  They expressed satisfaction with the level of interaction between Tajikistan and the United Nations on that problem.

In the course of the talks, Rahmon and Robinson reportedly also expressed satisfaction with an efficient work on holding the prepcom conference “Towards the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (RIO +20): Water Cooperation Issues” in Dushanbe that is concluding today.

At the end of the meeting, Tajik leader offered to hold a conference on water diplomacy in Dushanbe in 201013, the source said.

We will recall that Secretary of UN-Water arrived in Dushanbe to attend the prepcom conference “Towards the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (RIO +20): Water Cooperation Issues.”

Ms. Kenza Kaouakib-Robinson was appointed Secretary of UN-Water in March 2011.  She is a Senior Sustainable Development Officer in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.  She has managed national and regional water resources projects notably in Africa and the Middle East and served as Chair of the Gender and Water Task Force of the UN Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality.  In 2008, she was designated the UN Focal point for the International Year of Sanitation.  She holds a Master''s Degree and the Diplôme D''études Approfondies (DEA, 3ème cycle) in Land Management from the Université d''Aix-Marseilles II.