The 16th Annual Meeting was held on 1 & 2 March 2021, co-hosted by the WEPA Secretariat and the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. It was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. WEPA member states, WEPA advisory board members, as well as experts and stakeholders attended the meeting. Dr. Yoshitaka Ebie, a member of the WEPA Advisory Board, delivered the keynote speech on “Institutional Approaches to Achieve Appropriate Decentralized Wastewater Treatment” and this was followed by a lively Q & A session. The WEPA partner countries then gave presentations on progress made on water environment governance, focusing on the “Current Status and Challenges of Domestic Wastewater Treatment”, with an active exchange of views.

The Ministry of the Environment, Japan and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand co-organized the 15th WEPA Annual Meeting on 8 February 2020 and International Workshop on 6 February 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. WEPA member states, WEPA advisory board members, and experts from both Japan and Thailand were attended the meeting. On the first day, the WEPA International Workshop was held focusing on the current situation, challenges and possible solutions on industrial wastewater management in WEPA countries. All WEPA member states presented updates on Water Environmental Governance and actively exchanged views at the Annual Meeting. At the meeting, compliance with industrial wastewater regulations was reconfirmed as a priority issue for member states to tackle in the fourth phase. Originally 13 counties were scheduled to attend the meeting; however, due to an outbreak caused by a novel coronavirus, 10 countries were participated in the meeting.

The Ministry of the Environment, Japan and the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia co-organized the Bilateral Meeting on the WEPA Action Program in Cambodia on 11 December 2019, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The WEPA Action Program aims to tackle specific problems to conserve the water environment in WEPA partner countries and has been conducted since 2014. In the meeting, the experiences of both Japan and Cambodia on water environment management were shared and further proposals on the action program were discussed.