The 3^rd NARBO General Meeting hosted by Jasa Tirta I Public Corporation, Research Center for Water Resources; and Indonesia NARBO Secretariat was successfully held on 20-22, February 2008 in Solo/Surakarta, Indonesia with the participation of a hundred of participants from 17 countries.

The event started with a one-day study visit to the Bengawan Solo River Basin (Wonogiri Regency Administration) from where the participants were divided into 2 groups for two different purposes. The group 1 visited Wonogiri Multipurpose Reservoir which aimed to provide participants with background on the sedimentation and water allocation problem in the Bengawan Solo River Basin. The group 2 visited the Gemawang Village, at the Nguntoronadi District in the Wonogiri Regency, this visit aimed to provide participants with background on the public participation and bottom-up approaches in water resources planning as been applied in the Bengawan Solo River Basin. The visit was very useful for the participants to learn river basin management practices in Bengawan Solo River Basin.

Group 1 field visit

At the meeting, activities done in last 2 years and the work plan for 2008-2009 was presented. A new constitutional body of NARBO for the next 2-year-term was selected with Dr. Moch Amron (Advisor, Ministry of Public Works, Indonesia) as the Chairperson, Mr. K.W. Ivan de Silva (Director General, Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka) as the Vice Chairperson, and Mr. Yasutaka Hamada (Executive Director, Japan Water Agency) as the Secretary General. Also was revised at the meeting the NARBO Charter with some additions and deletions which shall allow more effective operation of NARBO. The meeting witnessed the enlargement of NARBO with the approved adhesion of new 9 members from China, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand, that made up a total of 65 members of NARBO so far.

Vietnamese participants at the meeting

Participants at the meeting

For detailed information, visit http://www.narbo.jp.