Under the auspices of the Prime Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt Eng. Sherif Ismail, the Exicon International Group organized The 11th Desalination Conference in the Arab countries during the period 18-19 April 2017 at City Star Intercontinental Hotel in Cairo, Egypt. The conference was attended by Eng. Tawfiq Yousef Al-Ghasham, WSTA Board Secretary, who received on behalf of the Chairman of the Board a plaque honoring the participation of the Association in the last ten years.

During the conference, nine scientific sessions and sessions of professional dialogue were held, in which 50 speakers and researchers from several Arab and foreign countries presented working papers and experiences on the following themes:

Also, Dr. Abdul Majeed Al Awadhi, former CEO of the Electricity and Water Authority in the Kingdom of Bahrain and member of the Advisory Committee of the Society, took part in the opening ceremony, where he delivered a speech on the experiences of the Arab Gulf countries in the desalination industry and the contributions of the private sector in promoting this industry.

At the end of the event, the participants agreed on a series of recommendations, the most important of which was the focus on encouraging new technologies and initiatives, and the need to adopt research results in new desalination technologies through partnerships with the private sector to turn the results into commercial opportunities. The participants also stressed on promoting investment in the new non-traditional technologies by providing the opportunity for experimental plants, and the need to focus on benefiting from local resources in the manufacture of desalination units, membranes, spare parts and chemicals, and to build national expertise in operation and maintenance of desalination plants.