At a media briefing in Abu Dhabi, His Excellency Abdulla Balalaa outlined the UAE’s ambition for the 2026 UN Water Conference to accelerate implementation of actionable solutions through investment, innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.

Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates called for water to be treated as a global economic and investment priority as it sets out its ambition for the 2026 UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi this December.

Speaking at a media briefing held at the National Media Authority, His Excellency Abdulla Balalaa, UAE Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability, highlighted the role water plays as a critical driver of economic growth and development: “You may not always see it listed on a balance sheet, but water underpins every aspect of development and economic activity. It connects industrial production, technology, and global supply chains.

In fact, almost every product and service that drives our economies depends on reliable access to water.

If we are serious about implementation [of water solutions], we must be equally serious about finance. And investing in water is investing in people.

Governments alone cannot meet the scale of investment required to build resilient water systems around the world. We need commercial banks, institutional investors, development finance institutions, multilateral development banks, philanthropies, and the private sector to recognise water as both an economic and investment priority.”

A defining feature of the 2026 UN Water Conference will be Investments for Water, a sixth Interactive Dialogue adopted by a historic consensus by UN Member States. For the first time at a UN Water Conference, a dedicated Dialogue will focus on mobilising the finance, technology, innovation, and capacity needed to deliver progress at scale. 

 Adopting the new Dialogue by consensus reflects a shared global recognition that finance and investment are vital to delivering water solutions at scale.

The Interactive Dialogues are at the heart of the 2026 UN Water Conference, bringing together governments, diverse voices and perspectives, and enabling partners.

The first five Dialogues — Water for People, Water for Prosperity, Water for Planet, Water for Cooperation, and Water in Multilateral Processes — reflect the many dimensions of the global water challenge. Together, these tracks create mechanisms and platforms to move from dialogue to delivery, and from ambition to action. The Investments for Water Dialogue adds a critical dimension by asking how we mobilise and align the finance, technology, innovation, and capacity required to turn ambition into projects — and projects into real impact.
His Excellency Balalaa added: “The world is coming to Abu Dhabi this December with different experiences, different challenges, different technologies, and different ideas. 

The UAE’s responsibility as co-host is to bring those perspectives together. 

We want to make the invisible connections visible — to show how water connects economic growth with resilience, innovation with opportunity, and investment with human development.

We want to connect the people who need solutions with the people who can develop, finance, deploy, and scale them.

And we want to ensure that the conversations and commitments continue long after the Conference concludes.

Our ambition is to leave the 2026 UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi with stronger partnerships, clearer investment pipelines, technologies moving towards deployment, and practical commitments that improve people’s lives.”

The 2026 UN Water Conference will feature two complementary spaces working towards a shared ambition: the UN-accredited Blue Zone and The Oasis, a UAE-hosted space designed to open the water conversation to a wider community. Together, they will create a meeting place for policy and practice, ideas and investment, and innovation and implementation.

The Blue Zone will host the official UN programme, including plenary sessions, the six Interactive Dialogues, and accredited side events. 

The Oasis will include the main space for exhibitions and pavilions, alongside three days of programming across a Main Stage and smaller convening spaces, including the inaugural Abu Dhabi Water and Power Week, led by the Department of Energy - Abu Dhabi.

Co-Hosted by the UAE and Senegal from 8–10 December 2026 at the ADNEC Exhibition Centre, the 2026 UN Water Conference is dedicated to accelerating implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6: ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. It will be the third UN Water Conference in almost 50 years, the first led by two countries from the Global South, and the first UN Conference dedicated to SDG6.

Thousands of participants from governments, business, finance, multilateral organisations, civil society, academia, and the innovation community are expected to attend across the three-day event.

Registration for The Oasis is open via www.unwaterconferenceuae.com.