Since being taken into consideration during the GWP Assembly in Stockholm, August 2000 and the INBO General Assembly, held in Zakopane (Poland), beginning of October 2000, the GWP/INBO Associated Program has been officially launched.

It has been possible to promote the Program on the occasion of several international conferences or seminars  :

• Workshop at UNESCO headquarters in Paris (France) on 15 and 16 February 2001, in order to elaborate the World Water Development Report
• GWP " framework for action " meeting in Wallingford (U.K.), on 19 and 20 February 2001
• World Bank Seminar in Washington (USA) - contacts with IADP, OAS and USAID and, in New York, contacts with UNDP and UN/DAES from 18 to 27 April 2001
• Talks at the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs, on 14 May 2001
• Regional meetings for Central America RTAC/GWP in Costa-Rica from 6 to 8 June 2001
• INBO Liaison Bureau, in Quebec from 5 to 7 June 2001
• Preparatory meeting for the 3^RD World Water Forum in Japan from ___ to ___ 2001
• CEENBO Constituent Assembly in Warsaw (Poland) on 22 and 23 June 2001.

k in anticipation of :

• LANBO General Assembly in Foz de Iguaçu (Brazil) on 30 and 31 August 2001
• INBO Liaison Bureau in Foz de Iguaçu on 4 September 2001 during the 4^TH  Inter- American Dialogue on Water Management, from 02 to 06 September 2001
• French-Japanese Seminar on Water - Tokyo and Kyoto - from 1 to 5 October 2001.

In 2001, the French Government has increased its support to PTS/INBO by 38.000 € , in favour of AP/GWP/INBO.

Several "prototype" twinning agreements have been signed since the creation of INBO, especially between:

• the Polish RZGW and the French Water Agencies (the Warsaw RZGW and the Adour-Garonne Water Agency, in particular),

• the Seine-Normandy Water Agency and the Hungarian OVF and APELE ROMANE (Romania), together with English, Bavarian or Belgian similar organizations,

• the Adour-Garonne Water Agency and the Oum Er Rbia Agency in Morocco,

• the Loire-Brittany Water Agency and the Rio Doce Basin Committee in Brazil.

During the World Water Forum of March 2000 in The Hague, the Dutch Government initiated an ambitious program to promote this kind of initiative : several participating organizations declared their interest

During the INBO General Assembly in Zakopane, a new agreement was signed by the Spanish Ebro Hydrographic Confederation and the Brazilian "Intermunicipal Consortium" of Rio Piracicaba.

Since then, contacts have been maintained between the Dutch Authorities and the Permanent Technical Secretariat to contemplate on a specific support to the activity ¬ of the Associated Program. The strengthening of the Permanent Technical Secretariat with the secondment of a Dutch civil servant would give a decisive impulse to the twinning arrangements.

Other preliminary contacts are underway between the Loire-Brittany and Seine-Normandy Agencies and the new Mexican Basin Councils (Hidalgo-Torreon) or between the new Polish National Water Administration and the International Office for Water, etc.

A new twinning agreement was signed in Paris on 9 August 2001, between Gliwice RZGW (Poland) and the Seine-Normandy Water Agency (France).

• 1^st National Assembly of the Mexican Basin Councils (October 2000 – Mexico),

• Intermunicipal Consortium of the Rio Jiquirica in Brazil,

• The "Sabarmati River" pilot project in the Gujarat State (India),

• Project for the integrated development of the Irtysh river between Russia and Kazakhstan,

• Initiatives on transboundary rivers in Southern Africa (Orange river, …),

• The creation of Water Agencies in Algeria,

• TACIS Project for the reform of water management in Russia (VOLGA project)

• Pre-accession twinning arrangements for the implementation of the European directive in the Central and Eastern European countries, candidates for accession to the European Union.

• Initiative on the shared river basins of Central America, in particular the Rio PAZ basin (Salvador / Guatemala)

• Creation of an integrated system for monitoring water quality :

- in the Vistula river basin, between Poland, Slovakia and the Ukraine,

- in the Tiza river basin between Hungary and Romania

• Proposal to the European LIFE 2001 program to define the types of procedure for the implementation of the new community framework directive in some countries of Western, Central and Eastern Europe

- Feasibility study by regional information centres on basins in Mexico (Hidalgo-Torreon)

INBO and LANBO are involved in the launching of a questionnaire of the World Bank which aims to establish a list of the types of basin organizations and analyze their success factors.

Using the RTACs of GWP, it would be very interesting to promote studies of this kind for the large regions of the World, as compared to the studies already carried out by ECLAC in Latin America or the LIFE study on non-point pollution in different countries of the European Union.

The results could be included into training modules, such as those already suggested by INBO General Assembly in Valencia (Spain – November 1997).

The experience gained in Brazil during such training seminars could allow for fast development.

INBO is already associated with the seminar on the relations between "upper basins" and "downstream regions" to be held in Limoges (France) on 24 September 2001, within the framework of the European INTER-REG II initiative involving Spain, France and Portugal. As a result of which, a trilingual guide of recommendations will be disseminated by the European Commission.

Moreover, INBO supports the Initiative of the International Secretariat for Water of Montreal in the development of "social engineering" tools which aim to facilitate the participation of all users and local elected representatives, especially in the new basin committees.

Finally, INBO-STP, under the auspices of the 23 United Nations Agencies concerned with water, is engaging its expertise in drawing up a chapter of the "World Water Development Report" on water sharing, which will be discussed in BONN in December 2001.

The "AQUADOC-INTER" project has entered its operational phase and is experimentally used in France, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania. It could be launched in Brazil and Mexico in 2001.

In Central Europe, Slovakia and Bulgaria are also interested.

It should be remembered that the "EMWIS" project is developing in the Mediterranean region. It is supported by the European Union and the French, Italian and Spanish Governments and concerns the 27 countries, signatories of the Barcelona Agreement. The Algerian Water Agencies play an important role.

This first report emphasizes the feasibility of the INBO/GWP Associated Program. It meets expectations which are increasing worldwide.

However, the GWP Associated Programs are not sufficiently "magic" to bring automatic funding: they can only make credible actual projects implemented in the field, by providing frameworks.

So, it is up to the member-organizations to mobilize themselves, within INBO itself, or in Regional Networks already existing (LANBO) or being created (CEENBO, Asia, Mediterranean or Africa…) to formalize and promote together projects, to permit its implementation.

This should be possible thanks to GWP strengthened support in favour of regional activities, and the contribution of new bilateral cooperation ( Holland, for instance ) to the expertise within INBO/STP.

The preparation of a workshop within the framework of the 3^RD World Water Forum in Kyoto in March 2003 is, of course, a strong promoting factor; The same applies to activating a " Conférence - room " on the " Virtual Water Forum " Internet website of this important event.