ASIA EUROPE MEETING ON MEGA-DISASTERS SET IN MANILA ON JUNE 4-6

A discussion on how best to handle future mega-disasters will be held in Manila June 4-6, in a meeting attended by some 150 high ranking officials of government and private organizations in Asia and  Europe.

The conference has been dubbed “The Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management: Post Haiyan – A Way Forward.” It is a Philippine initiative adopted by 49 heads of states and governments, the president of the European Union (EU), and the secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Expected to be attended by senior government officials, scientists, academics, policymakers, industry and business leaders, non-governmental organization (NGO)leaders, and representatives of regional and international organizations from Asia and Europe, the  international gathering will engage in earnest discussions and lively debates on whether current international practices and principles still hold in the light of the Philippine experience with typhoon Yolanda, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

A sharing of best practices, innovation and technology for disaster risk reduction and management, as well as how best to reconstruct and rehabilitate devastated areas will also be themes for discussion in the four working groups of the ASEM Conference, that will be chaired by the EU, the Philippines, Switzerland, and Japan.

EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Kristalina Georgieva and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlstrom will join Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and other cabinet officials in making plenary statements during the ASEM Manila Conference.

Conference chairperson Maria Zeneida Angara Collinson, the DFA Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, said the ASEM Manila Conference is being held at a crucial time when the decade-old Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) adopted by the world community as the global paradigm on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) is about to end in 2015. (opt)