Barcelona to host new GWOPA headquarters

The new headquarters of the UN-sponsored Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance (GWOPA) will be located in Barcelona, Spanish government sources said today. GWOPA was created under the United Nations Habitat for Human Settlements program, which brings together public and private water management operators and entrepreneurs. GWOPA's global secretariat is currently based in the UN Habitat headquarters in Nairobi, but will relocate to Barcelona in September. Barcelona's candidacy, which was submitted to the UN by Spain's Secretary General for International Cooperation and Development Gonzalo Robles, was chosen over those of Holland and Turkey. The new GWOPA headquarters will be located in a historic building, the former Hopital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. Water management and drainage is one of the key vectors of Spain's international cooperation activity, and the expertise of Spanish water management companies is internationally recognized. Along with Germany, Spain pioneered the UN's recognition of the right to clean water as a universal human right, which was recently ratified in the final Declaration issued at the UN Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference, Spanish government sources pointed out.(ANSAMed).