Co-Chair of the APEC Emergency Preparedness Working Group Wei-Sen Li speaks at the workshop. (Source: VNA)
Solutions were proposed to strengthen the partnership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum for natural disaster response and reduction to ensure a sustainable community during a workshop that wrapped up on September 19 in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh.
The two-day workshop, with the participation of around 100 domestic and international experts, underlined community-based measures, assistance to APEC member countries, particularly the developing ones to improve their awareness and capability of preventing and reducing natural calamity risks.
Participants stressed that communities should be equipped with information and knowledge on natural disaster risks, how to cope with disasters as well as how to forecast and prepare for possible risks.
They agreed that APEC should contribute more to regional and sub-regional cooperative mechanisms in the field, such as the ASEAN coordinating centre for humanitarian aid and disaster management, as well as to global initiatives, including the United Nations’ Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) and the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Conference on Climate Change slated for Paris, France, later this year.
The workshop adopted reports to be submitted to the ninth APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting on disaster risk management, the 27th APEC Ministers Responsible for Economics and Foreign Affairs Meeting and the 23rd APEC Summit to take place in Philippines in November this year.
The APEC workshop on community-based disaster risk management, jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee, is one of the 80 initiatives proposed by Vietnam in preparation for the country’s hosting of the 25th APEC Summit and related activities in 2017.-VNA
