Ministerial Declaration on the Senegalo-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin.

This Ministerial Declaration expresses an agreement between The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania e Senegal to set up a permanent mechanism for the concerted management of the aquifer basin. This would take the form of a legal and institutional framework for transboundary cooperation for the sustainable management of the waters of the Senegalo-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin, in conjunction with the surface waters of the region. The Parties decide to launch, in line with the vision and the regional project, a negotiation process to define this legal and institutional framework, taking into account the existing frameworks of the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS) and the Organization for the Development of the Gambia River (OMVG). For this and other purposes the Parties also decide to strengthen the Regional Working Group for Transboundary Cooperation on the Senegalo-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin (RWG) and adopt the annexed revised terms of reference of the RWG. The RWG is an intergovernmental mechanism which mandate is to provide a framework for consultation, coordination and decision making among the States in the basin for concerted transboundary management of the Senegalo-Mauritanian Aquifer Basin (SMAB).