The Workplan of 2024, the final year of the EU-funded Water and Environment Support (WES) project, was unanimously endorsed on the 1^st of February 2023, during its online 5^th annual Steering Committee Meeting (SCM).

As in previous years, this SCM brought together the WES Water and Environment Focal Points (FP) from the relevant ministries of the WES Partner Countries (PCs), the European Commission (DGNEAR, DGENV), the EU Delegations to the PCs, the institutional partners of the project – the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) – as well as the WES Consortium Members, representatives of the Water Demonstration projects, and water organisations.

The WES FPs and EU Delegations shared their experiences in implementing WES activities at national level and on capitalising on their participation in the many regional activities. A genuinely needs-driven regional project, WES has been consistently supporting the PCs at many levels, from policy formulation, technical assistance and capacity building, to stakeholder engagement and consensus building, education and awareness, in an integrated manner, building on previous work and on synergies with other on-going efforts. Appreciation for the extension of the WES programme was frequently reiterated.

The EU funded Water and Environment Support (WES) in the ENI Southern Neighbourhood region project aims at protecting the environment and improving the management of scarce water resources in the Mediterranean. It tackles problems related to pollution prevention and water use efficiency. The project’s activities began in May 2019 and will end in November 2024, with a total budget of 9.508.054 euros.