The Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) and the CCA (Consejo Consultivo del Agua) hosted on the 9^th of February 2017 the Kick-off Meeting of the Sustainable Agri-water Initiative at CONAGUA’s Headquarters in Mexico. The Initiative has the objective of enabling innovative forms of public-private partnerships to foster a more sustainable use of agri-water. The first stage of the Initiative will consist on carrying out feasibility analysis and business case development of 5 selected pilot projects. The 2030WRG is supporting the implementation of the Initiative by providing high-level technical assistance with the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), and in coordination with the IFC and World Bank offices in Mexico.

During the Kick-off Meeting, the Initiative’s Co-Chairs, Mr. Salomon Abedrop (Deputy Director of Planning of CONAGUA) and Mr. Francisco Mayorga (President of the Agri-water Committee of the CCA) highlighted the importance of finding new ways of financing agri-water projects – both greenfield and brownfield – in a context of severe budgetary constraints and the rising needs for the water-food security nexus. The Executive Director of the CCA, Mr. Juan José Huerta, welcomed the commencement of the Initiative’s work, emphasizing the need to foster multi-stakeholder participation throughout its implementation. Mr. Ary Naim, IFC Country Manager underlined the IFCs interests and capabilities to support PPP formation. The World Bank Senior Water Sector Specialist for Mexico highlighted the need to look at the projects from a wider perspective ensuring that local and regional impacts are carefully considered.

At the Meeting, we counted with the participation of the CONAGUAs personnel from the Planning and the Agri-water Deputy Directions, and representatives from the CCA’s Secretariat, members of the IFC Mexico Office, the World Bank, PWC’s Team and the 2030WRG. One important outcome of the Meeting was the setting up of a multi-agency technical committee that will help enable synergies between organisations.