Key Points
1. Travel costs: GWP Chair Pablo Bereciartua's travel expenses for his 2022 trip from Buenos Aires to New York and Washington were significantly less expensive than the amount reported by SvD.
2. Class of travel: Contrary to SvD’s claims and insinuations of extensive first-class travel, Bereciartua travelled exclusively in Economy Class and Economy Plus, with two exceptions where the cost was either not significantly higher, or was less expensive, than Economy.
3. Spot-audit feedback: The spot-audit requested by Sida in 2023 provided important feedback to GWP that led to immediate improvements in our policies, including requiring formal written travel reports (instead of oral reports) from the Chair.
4. Auditor transparency: Pablo Bereciartua provided extensive written follow-up information to the auditors engaged by Sida, including comprehensive details of his engagements, meetings and discussions. Similar materials were also provided to SvD.
Detailed Clarifications
- Travel costs for Pablo Bereciartua: GWP Chair Pablo Bereciartua travelled from Buenos Aires to New York and Washington in 2022. SvD reports a total cost for the trip of SEK 70 000, which is inaccurate. The internal documents cited by SvD were budget estimates, not actual reported costs. The total cost of the trip was approximately SEK 44,000, of which the airline ticket price was SEK 25,350. The main Buenos Aires-New York let of the trip was conducted in Economy Plus, a higher class was chosen only for the New York-Washington leg (on advice of the travel agency) to ensure that luggage was transferred in time. The total cost of the ticket was not significantly affected.
- Claims regarding first-class travel: SvD’s claims that GWP's leadership has “awarded themselves expensive first-class travel” are misleading. While former Chair Howard Bamsey travelled in Business Class, this was standard and accepted practice during his tenure, which ended on June 30, 2022. Pablo Bereciartua, who assumed the role on July 1, 2022, has consistently travelled in Economy or Economy Plus.
- Context of former Chair’s resignation: The claim that former GWP Chair Howard Bamsey resigned “in protest” when Sida denied approval for Business or First-Class travel is incorrect. Mr. Bamsey faced health concerns related to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), leading his doctor to advise against flying in economy class. Mr. Bamsey has reconfirmed to GWP that his decision not to seek re-election to a second term was based solely on personal health considerations. It implied no criticism of Sida’s or GWP’s travel policies and was simply a logical result of those policies.
- Contextual misrepresentation of quotes: The SvD article misrepresents a quote from Pablo Bereciartua by failing to include the context of the event at which he spoke at World Water Week at GWP’s Booth (he joined online). This was a hybrid event, combining online and in-person participations, to kick-off the consultation period for GWP’s new Strategy 2026-2030. The omission of the surrounding context alters the intended meaning of his statements.
The text omitted from Pablo Bereciartua’s statement includes the following: “I think this is most of all an unbelievable opportunity for Global Water Partnership to rethink itself. We are definitely in a world that is changing. Big-time changes are happening around us, and we need to see those changes as opportunities.” Pablo Bereciartua emphasised that GWP’s unique position, as a neutral intergovernmental entity free from external ownership pressures, allows it to adapt to these changes effectively. As he further elaborated: “We are already a global network—very diversified, very horizontal—and we have the capacity to speak from a neutral point of view. This neutrality is crucial for effective water governance because it enables us to connect various stakeholders and facilitate important discussions within the sector.” - GWP’s value and results: The assertion that GWP “drains funds from the Swedish state without delivering results” is baseless. GWP has for many years consistently reported impressive and quantifiable outcomes, contributing to water management and water security improvements in many countries around the world, as evidenced in our Annual Reports. In its public response to the SvD article series, Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) referred to GWP as “a key actor in the global agenda” that “fills an important niche for contributing to a more water-secure world.”
In conclusion, the SvD article contains significant inaccuracies and does not reflect the true nature of GWP's operations, its travel practices, or its documented value and impact.