The meeting was under the patronage of the Minister of Water and Sanitation of Niger, represented by the Cabinet Director, Mr. Abdou Maliki.
In his opening speech, the representative of the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation, after pointing out the major challenges that the Mékrou project is trying to find solutions to, called on all the structures involved in the management of this project "not to weary of seeking the means, both financial and human quality resources, in order to achieve a second phase to reinforce the achievements of the first phase on the one hand and, on the other hand, lead to the implementation of the Water Management and Management Plans on the national portions of the Mékrou basin and finally to carry out works in order to impact the improvement of the living conditions of the populations, without forgetting to duplicate this example in other basins of the world in similar environments ".
Mr. Enrique DE LOMA-OSSORO FRIEND of the Delegation of the European Union in
Niger "welcomed the progress and achievements of the Mékrou project with regard to the coordination and cooperation between the institutions of the three countries, with a framework of partnership and very active, dynamic work and capable of reaching consensus to improve the living conditions of the populations in the Mékrou basin. The level of the scientific analysis carried out makes it possible to have an excellent knowledge of the basin at the level of the domestic use of water and sanitation, agricultural and pastoral development and at the level of the tertiary sector such as sustainable and green tourism”. He commended the efforts made to "build bridges and strengthen the connection between the scientific world through the use of advanced hydrological modelling tools, studies of climate and agricultural variability and also the reality of communities and development actors of the Mekrou region ".
The welcoming address was given by GWP-WA Chair, Prof Abel Afouda who, after welcoming all the partners, thanked them for their willingness to support the project management unit. He recalled the importance of water as a shared resource and the need for a frank collaboration in its management so as to "ensure water security for the populations" and especially those in the project area.
The representative of the GWPO, signatory of the convention with the European Union, Manuel Fulchiron expressed the availability of the global secretariat and the entire 
GWP network to give guidance and meaning to the needs expressed by the users. He "welcomed the very high level of mobilization that has not weakened since the beginning of the project". He pointed out the understanding that is now apparent in the interweaving of all the work done by this project between the institutional and the scientific aspects.
Speaking on behalf of the Joint Research Center (JRC), Mr Cesar Carmona recalled the work carried out within the framework of the scientific component with AGRHYMET, NBA, the scientific institutions of the countries in particular the " Interactive analysis that take into account the major problems of the project area " which are the different 
sectors of water, agriculture and the environment. Some of these analyses have contributed to the development of SFWS.
Following the presentation of the provisional report of the SFWS by the consultant, exchanges took place to improve the content of the document in order to finalize it.
Successful implementation
Overall, the Mekrou project shows satisfactory results, including the signature and popularization of the Cooperation Framework Agreement, the validation of the regional capacity-building program, the development of the baseline study, the validation of studies on the development priorities at country level with strong participation, the development of the cross-border information system, the development of water resources planning tools and improvement of their allocation to different uses.
As part of the implementation of the pilot projects, additional funds have increased from CFAF 32 million to 46 million per project in each country. Niger and Burkina Faso are at 80%, and Benin at 85% in the implementation of the pilot projects.
Among other results, 3 issues of Running Water, Policy Briefs, an interactive website, the Monitoring and Evaluation Manual, regular meetings of the Advisory Committee.
As such, the Institutional Component has a physical execution rate of 86.12% as of June 14, 2017, for a financial execution rate of 63.06% on March 31, 2017.
The Scientific and Technical Component have a physical implementation rate of 83.08% with a financial execution rate of 77.6%.
The Institutional Component and the Scientific and Technical Component combined are at a physical rate of 84.6% for a financial execution rate of 70.33%.
Some difficulties
A number of implementation constraints were identified, including the insufficient number of staff involved in the project, the interdependence of the various components, which is affecting the rapid development of the activities, as it is always necessary to wait for the results of one component to move to a next step, delays in the preparation of reports, non-operationalization of the implementation of the framework agreement, final audit and final evaluation which cannot be done before the end of the project, 31 December 2017. The Project manager noted the risk of non-availability of certain deliverables before the end of the project, due to the fact that it is during the meetings of the NBA that these deliverables will be validated; The difficult co-ordination of the two components by two independent institutions, and the often-unsuccessful tenders due to the low amounts allocated to the studies.
The participants to this meeting of the Regional Consultative Committee of the Global Coordination Mechanism of the Mekrou project recommended that GWP send a letter to the European Union requesting a second phase of the project and hire a resource person to support the development of the Phase 2 project document. It was also recommended that JRC with scientific institutions and national experts accompany the consultant in finalizing the preferential scenario selected by the States.
