«Water is the principle or the element of things. All things are water ...» This quote from the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (625 - 547 BC) can be reduced to three words: water is life! Without water, there is no food, and without food, no existence - a lack of basic resources leads to conflict, violence and migration. The 6th High-Level Dialogue on Water Management gave us another opportunity to exchange recent findings on water management and climate change and to discuss progress and the upcoming activities in our cooperation projects. Although we have been actively working towards sustainable water management for decades, we have to do more for our future – not only in Switzerland and in China but globally.