Dubai, February 11, 2025 – The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative and the World Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today to collaborate on efforts to accelerate innovation and investment to address global water scarcity, and strengthen water security in communities around the world. The MoU was co-signed by Ayesha Al-Ateeqi, Executive Director of the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, and Ousmane Dione, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the World Bank, during the World Governments Summit 2025.
This partnership aims to address critical water security challenges and foster innovative solutions to ensure sustainable water management. It explores potential areas of collaboration in several key areas including accelerating innovation related to water security; strengthening water sustainability and efficiency; exploring new mechanisms for water financing and funding; and deepening engagement between the public sector, private sector, and international organizations to help guide and support the incubation, testing and scaling up of innovative solutions to water security challenges.
"The establishment of this MOU is consistent with the goal of The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative to accelerate the development of new solutions to water scarcity and to boost international cooperation to address this growing threat to global security and prosperity," said Ayesha Al-Ateeqi, Executive Director of the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative. "By teaming up with the World Bank, our collective goal is to pursue tangible opportunities to drive innovation and investment aimed at addressing the challenge of water scarcity for the benefit of current and future generations."
"This partnership aims to address critical water security challenges and foster innovative solutions to ensure sustainable water management," said Ousmane Dione, the World Bank Middle East and North Africa Vice President. "Jointly we will be promoting sustainable water management practices in water stressed regions around the world. Our collaboration will focus on accelerating innovations to support critical areas like irrigation, water re-use, and desalination in efforts to make every drop of water count."
The agreement signed today formalizes the shared desire of The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative and the World Bank to work together on projects and initiatives aimed at boosting innovation, investment and international cooperation to address the threat of water scarcity and to make a meaningful contribution to global water security and sustainability efforts. It also aims to create a tangible platform for cooperation and collaboration on water-related initiatives with stakeholders from different regions and sectors.
About the Mohammed bin Zayed Water Initiative: The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative is dedicated to addressing global water scarcity by enabling the development and application of breakthrough technologies, raising the importance of water scarcity on the international agenda, and deploying needed water solutions to benefit people and communities around the world. In its first priority project, in March 2024 MBZWI partnered with XPRIZE Foundation to launch XPRIZE Water Scarcity – a five-year, $119 million prize made possible by a $150 million investment by the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative. The competition is designed to drive widespread access to clean water by creating more reliable, sustainable, and affordable seawater desalination systems and membranes. For more information, please visit www.mohamedbinzayedwi.ae.
About the World Bank: The World Bank Group works to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet through a combination of financing, knowledge, and expertise. It consists of the World Bank, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA); the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org, www.miga.org, and www.ifc.org.
