Dear Participant,
On behalf of the Advisory Committee I welcome you to Turkey and the 4th Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy. This year's Forum includes a pre-conference field trip to inspect arrangements for transboundary river basin management in the Euphrates Basin and some of the antiquities of Upper Mesopotamia. An elective post-conference trip to Cappadocia will provide an additional opportunity to see and learn about some of Turkey's rich history. As usual these trips offer an opportunity to interact with Forum participants as well as the opportunity to see first-hand some of the water management challenges and successes in this part of the world.
Two days of formal sessions and informal discussions will focus on lessons in transboundary river basin management. There will be specific presentations and discussions on five case studies: 1) the Tigris-Euphrates River System; 2) the Columbia River; 3) the Nile River; 4) the Danube River; and 5) the Parana-LaPlata River System. I hope you will find the discussions informative and interesting.
This year several local co-sponsors join with the primary sponsors, the Bank of America and the University of California, to make this Forum possible. The include: the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute, the Southeastern Anatolia Regional Development Administration (GAP), the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI); and the Bilkent University. Representatives of these co-sponsors will be with us throughout the Forum. I hope you will make it a point to introduce yourself to these representatives and join with me in thanking them for their support.
I trust that all of you will enjoy the field trips and that you will have a chance to see some of Turkey's capital city of Ankara. The Museum of the Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara is especially worth seeing and we will offer an elective field trip there the day before the Forum itself. May your stay in Ankara and elsewhere in Turkey be personally and professionally rewarding.
Sincerely yours,
Henry J. Vaux, Jr.
Chair, Advisory Committee
