Phnom Penh – Cambodia has been hosting the 26th Meeting on ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) and relevant meetings at Sunway Hotel in Phnom Penh.
The three-day meeting (April 21-23) will focus on the ASEAN’s sustainability, solidarity, power, and commitment to make its own people and community safe and resilient to disaster and climate change, said Senior Minister in charge of Special Mission H.E. Nhim Vanda, First Vice President of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) while presiding over the meeting’s opening ceremony.
While ASEAN is a region of economic potential, it is also a vulnerable area to natural disasters, H.E. Nhim Vanda continued.
“We (ASEAN) have faced with many catastrophes in the world and suffered losses and pains derived from tragedies caused by disasters,” said H.E. Nhim Vanda, adding that disaster management and disaster risk reduction are a long-lasting and complicated topic that requires all countries to participate in solving the issue together.
As the Chairman of ACDM, of Conference of Parties (COP) to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), and of ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM) in 2015, Cambodia has determined for this significant role to enhance regional cooperation in order to continue implementing AADMER and to attain the regional priorities and strategic objectives.
For his part, Mr. Larry Maramis, Director for Cross-Sectoral Cooperation of ASEAN Secretariat, said that ASEAN would study typhoon taking place in its region, continuing that climate change, climate resilience, sustainable development, and humanitarian assistance correlated closely that attention needed to be paid at the ACDM level.
Article in English by So Sophavy. Article in Khmer by Pal Song