The 4th Asian Regional Conference and the 10th International Seminar on Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) began in Tehran on Wednesday, PressTV said.

During the four-day conference, expert-level talks will be held on current developments in water management in different parts of the world, as well as the latest findings on irrigation and drainage and related technologies.

The events are organized by the Iranian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage in cooperation with International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, the International Network on Participatory Irrigation Management, the World Bank and International Water Management Institute.

More than a hundred articles from 40 countries have been submitted to the secretariat of the conference.

Speaking at the opening ceremony Wednesday, Rasoul Zargar, deputy energy minister for water affairs said some 23 percent of Iran’s workforce is involved in the agricultural sector, which accounts for about 27 percent of the national GDP, making ’appropriate water management systems very important to maintain the rate of economic growth’.

Zargar noted that Iran stands fifth in the world in terms of the number of dam construction projects, adding Iranian engineers have so far built more than 500 dams across the country.

Pointing to the activities of International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, Zargar said Iran joined the commission in 1957, seven years after it was established.