The meeting was opened with speeches by Ms. Afire SEVER, Director General of Water Management; Mr. Bülent ÖZCAN, Director General of Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation, Directorate for EU Affairs; Mr. Sergey MIHAYLOV, Team Leader from the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye; and Associate Professor Dr. İsmail Raci BAYER, Head of the Project Implementation Department, General Directorate of EU and Foreign Relations under Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change.

The meeting was attended by about 130 personnel from various stakeholder institutions, and presentations were made on: Introduction of the Project and the Ecoregion-based Ecological Assessment Approach; the Impact of Climate Change on Water and Ecosystems; and works carried out under the Water Efficiency Campaign. 

The project’s Contracting Authority is the General Directorate of EU and Foreign Relations of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and it is implemented by the General Directorate of Water Management. Its main objective is to establish a water quality assessment system based on ecoregions in Türkiye. Within this framework, the development of ecological assessment methodologies tailored to the specific conditions of the country is also planned. The project commenced in July 2025 and is scheduled for completion in January 2028.