BANGKOK, June 24 — The 6th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) officially kicked off in Bangkok on Tuesday, with a main aim to generate stronger political commitment and investment by Asian countries for disaster risk management and sustainable development.
The conference, opened by Gen Tanasak Patimapragorn, chief of Thailand’s Defence Forces and deputy chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), at the Bangkok Convention Center at the Central World shopping complex this morning, will run until Thursday
Wiboon Sanguanpong, Permanent Secretary for Interior and acting Interior Minister said the conference was the last regional forum before the expiration of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 next year.
It is aimed at reviewing achievements in disaster risk reduction in the region in the past decade and planning the reduction for the next decade.
Results of this conference will be proposed to the UN General Assembly in New York in September and be endorsed by the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in Sendai City of Japan next March.
“The conference will focus on promoting investments to enable countries and communities to cope with disasters and recover quickly from them. It will lead to the Bangkok Declaration that will consist of a framework for disaster risk reduction in the next decade and proposals on participation in disaster risk reduction from countries in the region,” Mr Wiboon said.
Margot Wallstrom, UN special representative for disaster risk reduction, said Asia and the Pacific faced the greatest risk of natural disasters as in the past decade there were more than 10 big disasters. She commented that the conference created a good opportunity for experience exchange and the planning of disaster risk reduction.
Gen Tanasak said participating countries could use the conference as an occasion to collectively try to cope with disasters for mutual benefit.
