Steven Hilton gives key speech at the World Bank to celebrate World Water Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 22, 2011. On World Water Day, March 22, 2011, Steven Hilton, President and CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation was one of the key speakers at the "Water for the Future" event held at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. The convening featured key U.S. Government and World Bank leaders, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

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The high-level meeting celebrated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and the World Bank to strengthen support to developing countries seeking a water-secure future.

The signing ceremony event held at the World Bank headquarters also celebrated new commitments to solve the global safe drinking water and sanitation crisis made by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and The Coca-Cola Company.

Steven Hilton invited several of the Foundation's grantees to join him onstage, including the Millennium Water Alliance, UNICEF, WaterAid America, and World Vision.

"Lack of access to safe water and sanitation remains a major challenge in developing countries, making an already bad situation worse in impoverished communities," Hilton said. "Since 1990, the Hilton Foundation has invested $84 million in clean water, serving more than two million people through our partner organizations. I'm very pleased to announce here today that our board recently pledged another $50 million in grants over the next five years for safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in communities of greatest need in West Africa, India, and Mexico."

Please read the press release for more information regarding this new pledge.