Largest-ever Mediterranean conference on water finance calls for increased bank investments in water resilience
Cairo, 13-14 October 2025. The 6th EU–UfM Annual Conference on Water Finance and Investment in Cairo, the largest-ever gathering on water finance in the Mediterranean, has called for stronger engagement from commercial and development banks to accelerate investments in water resilience across the region.
Organised jointly by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the European Commission in the framework of Cairo Water Week, the Conference has firmly established itself as the leading regional platform to address financing challenges in the water sector.
This year’s edition brought together nearly 50 speakers and over 200 participants from governments, financial institutions, international organisations and civil society to discuss the UfM Recommendations on Water Finance, a comprehensive framework of regional priorities and actions designed to guide national water finance strategies and investment planning.
These Recommendations, which will be formally considered at the 2nd UfM Ministerial Meeting on Water in March 2026 in Rome, provide a roadmap for countries to strengthen economic regulation of water services, enhance access to climate finance, and promote public–private partnerships as a means of closing the finance gap.
Grammenos Mastrojeni, UfM Deputy Secretary General stated: “Only one formula works in the Mediterranean: together, on an equal footing, everyone receiving, everyone contributing. And there is only one institutional framework, pan-Mediterranean that can provide this approach, the Union for the Mediterranean.”
This year’s Conference also marked the first time that commercial banks, national development banks, and international financial institutions were jointly convened to identify opportunities for increased financial flows into the water sector. Participants agreed that financial needs far exceed public capacities, making it essential to mobilise all available sources of financing to scale up investments.
