Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh to address second Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

The Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will be held here on November 7 and 8. It will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The keynote address will be delivered by the Chairperson of UPA, Sonia Gandhi.

New Delhi, Nov.3 : The Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will be held here on November 7 and 8. It will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The keynote address will be delivered by the Chairperson of UPA, Sonia Gandhi.

Speaking to newsmen here today, Secretary, Border Management in the Ministry of Home Affairs, U.N. Panjiar, said that 48 countries have so far confirmed participation in the conference, of which 33 delegations will be led by Ministers.

The total country delegates will be about 150. In addition, 103 experts and 54 NGOs have also confirmed participation, he added.

The first Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in September 2005 at Beijing.

The overarching goal of the conference would be to review the implementation of the Hyogo Priorities of Action in Asia in the context of various initiatives taken by the national, regional and international governments during the past two years and share the experiences of Asian and Pacific countries in Disaster Risk Reduction.

Ministers and other Government and Non-Government representatives would attend the Conference from Asia and the Pacific Island Countries. Several Experts, DM practitioners, Scientists, Subject matter specialists and Professionals, representatives of the United Nations agencies, regional organizations and other specialized agencies at the international, regional and national levels have also been invited.

The objectives of the 2nd Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction would be:

a) To review the action taken by the national governments and other stakeholders for the implementation of the Hyogo Framework of Action as a follow up to the Beijing Action for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia;

b) To take stock of initiatives taken in various sub-regions of Asia for promoting and enhancing cooperation among the nations within and outside the governments for disaster risk reduction;

c) To share and exchange best practices and lessons learned from disaster risk reduction in various fields including application of science and technology, community based disaster preparedness, public-private partnership etc;

d) To discuss the outcome of new international initiatives such as Global Platform, Regional Platforms and Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction; and

e) To develop a vision and roadmap for disaster risk reduction in Asia.

In line with the above objectives, the 2nd Asian Conference is expected to achieve the following results:

a) Report on the positive gains made in disaster risk reduction in Asia;

b) Identify the gap areas requiring concerted action by various stakeholders;

c) Develop common agreement on further enhancing regional cooperation among nations; and

d) Reach agreement on short and medium-term initiatives for disaster risk reduction in Asia.

Apart from the Inaugural and Valedictory Sessions of the Conference, the remaining sessions in the Conference would be structured in two segments: (a) Inter-governmental and (b) Technical. The Inter-governmental segment would be attended by Ministers and other representatives of Governments while the Technical segment would be open to the scientists, professionals, NGOs and other invitees.

The conference will be held in Ashoka Hotel. The entry will be on the basis of PIB card and the conference badge. The inauguration is scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. on November 7 and the valedictory session is scheduled to be held at 4.30 p.m. on November 8.

ANI