 Achieve the Water Framework Directives' goals of ensuring the sustainability of all activities that impact water, thereby contributing towards securing the availability of good quality water for sustainable and equitable water use and nature. The Cyprus presidency fully supported the Commission's initiative to prepare and present the blueprint and spares no effort to prepare the ground for placing before the December Environment Council a proposal for relevant Council conclusions. This, despite the very tight time limits we are faced with, RALIA, the blueprint's policy options were discussed during the informal meeting of ministers for the environment and climate change held by the Cyprus presidency in Nicosia on the 7th and 8th of July earlier this year. The topics to be discussed at the conference are also vital for Cyprus, where water scarcity is a very serious problem. Throughout its history, the island has suffered from long and severe droughts. Furthermore, as illustrated by the recent 2008 water emergency in Cyprus, climate change and in particular water scarcity and droughts are expected to make matters worse, rendering the water availability issue even more critical. There is therefore a need to intensify our efforts and prepare for and manage such water-related threats. Our principal national objective on this issue is to secure enough quantities of potable water to cover at least the basic needs of the population and to eliminate dependency on weather conditions by inter-RALIA installing seawater desalination plants. Despite the construction of many surface water reservoirs since the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960, the long and frequent periods of droughts have proved that storing rainwater into reservoirs only allows short-term planning is not a sustainable long-term solution. In parallel, UNTELSHO has also been focused on another non-conventional water resource, recycled water. More and more quantities of tertiary-treated recycled water are used for the irrigation of agricultural crops and the recharge of aquifers, thus freeing for domestic use an equal amount of good-quality water. On the other hand, a fundamental condition for the exercise and application of a sustainable water policy is the management of the demand of water. In Cyprus, water demand management has always been an integral part of our water policy. Measures such as awareness raising, metering of water consumption and water charges on a volumetric basis, programs to reduce distribution losses, improved on-farm irrigation systems, measures to promote a water-saving culture and efficiency of water use, water rationing during periods of drought, and many more, have been a tradition for the water authorities in Cyprus. I would like to conclude by thanking all those who have helped to make this conference possible, especially the European Commission as co-organizers as well as the conference supporters and speakers. I would also like to thank all the participants. I have no doubt that you will positively contribute to the discussions on the blueprint's proposal. We are looking forward to your deliberations and conclusions. I wish you all a fruitful and constructive meeting and a pleasant stay in Cyprus. Thank you very much.