ASEAN shares experience in setting up regional disaster response

Wednesday, January 28, 2015 11:12

Strengthening the cooperation in disaster response between SoutheastAsia and South Asia is an urgent imperative as natural disasters cutacross boundaries, according to Dela Rosa Bala Alicia, ASEAN DeputySecretary-General for the Socio-Cultural Community.

She madethe statement during a visit between high-level officials from the SouthAsian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the ASEANSecretariat in Jakarta on January 27.

The visiting delegateshighly valued the experience of ASEAN in responding to naturaldisasters, expressing optimism in continuing the partnership betweenASEAN and SAARC.

They said what they learnt from the studyvisit will help with the implementation of the agreements on rapidresponse to natural disasters in the near future.

Arjun BahadurThapa, Secretary-General of SAARC, as head of the delegation, said thatregional cooperation between ASEAN and SAARC for disaster managementcould be a stepping stone for larger cooperation between the tworegions.

Also on the event, the delegation visited the ASEAN’sCoordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) to learnabout ASEAN’s regional disaster response mechanisms.-VNA

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