Some information ahead of the meeting :
· M. Peter Glas, President of the Dutch Association of Regional Water Authorities of the Netherlands, has been selected by the Steering Committee as Chairman of the Initiative following the call for applications extended in July. M. Glas' biography is enclosed for your information. He will take over his function in the November meeting, and help raise the Initiative's profile worldwide.
· Many thanks to those of you that already sent their contributions to the Initiative's thematic working groups and/or as regional partners. We will share with you, by 18 October 2013 a draft scoping note for each of the 4 working groups (stakeholder engagement, performance of WSS, basin governance, integrity and transparency) for comments and discussion at the November meeting. Delegates that have not sent their contributions yet are kindly requested to contact the Secretariat, in order to organize the breakout sessions of 7 November afternoon.
· The morning session of 8 November will be devoted to the peer-review of the draft OECD report "Water Governance in the Netherlands : Fit for the Future ?". The objective is to discuss the key findings with participants in a joint session with the OECD Working Party on Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Water. We look forward to benefiting from your views and experience on the topics addressed in the draft report, an electronic copy of which will be sent to you by 18 October 2013.
On other items :
· An informal gathering/dinner of members present at the Budapest Water Summit will be organized on 8 October 2013 at 8h30pm after the official welcoming reception. We will confirm the venue soon, in the meantime please let us know if you can join !
· Many thanks to those of you who provided comments on the Budapest Draft Statement, which I forwarded to the organizers with copy to contributors.