Pakistan will attend disaster risk management conference in Delhi

A REPORTER PUBLISHED Oct 20, 2016 05:47am

ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on
Wednesday denied rumours that Pakistan would not attend the Asian Ministerial Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in New Delhi next month, saying Pakistan would be
participating.
Maj Gen Asghar Nawaz, speaking to the press after the closing ceremony of the Regional Consultative
Committee (RCC) on Disaster Management, said there was no need to refuse participating in India since
the event will be held under the umbrella of the United Nations.
After failing to attend the first session of the RCC, India also realised that it missed an important event. I
received a call from the Indian authorities that the second secretary of the Indian embassy will participate
in the second session, Mr Nawaz said.
The 13th annual meeting of the RCC began on Oct 17 in Islamabad. Representatives of 16 countries
participated in the meeting, but India and Bangladesh were among 10 countries that either skipped or did
not attend the meeting.
The absence of the Indian delegation led to rumours that Pakistan may not attend the AMCDRR, although
input from the RCC would contribute significantly to the AMCDRR.
The NDMA chairman said all the issues regarding disaster risk management, the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change, in light of the Paris Agreement, were discussed during
the conference, and it was suggested that a joint line of action be made to address them.
Speaking at the closing ceremony earlier today, Mr Nawaz said synergies in joint action needed to be
created and partnerships needed to be built, in order to better manage risk and crises at a regional level to
avoid natural disasters.
He said forums such as the RCC provided effective platforms to share views and deliberate on issues
confronting humanity in a neutral environment.
Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid called it a great honour and privilege that Islamabad had hosted
the meeting.
Today, the nature of the common challenges our region faces are complex, multidimensional and
transnational, he said, and added that multi-hazard threats posed by natural calamities highlight the need
and scope for extensive regional cooperation.
The meeting ended with an Islamabad Statement, which summarised the conclusions of three days of
deliberation and discussion. Delegates from Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Maldives, Mongolia,
Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey, as well as development partners and
international organisations participated.
Published in Dawn October 20th, 2016