The Government of India had declined to send a representative of the Indian National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to attend the Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) on disaster management which concluded on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by representatives of 17 Asia Pacific countries as well as international partners.
Chairman NDMA Pakistan, Major General Asghar Nawaz talking to this correspondent after the conclusion of the event said India declined to send relevant officials to attend 13th meeting of the RCC, however, he added that an official of Indian High Commission Islamabad joined the meeting. He said the RCC is to hold a ministerial level meeting of the partner countries in New Delhi, India, which is likely to be attended by the relevant Pakistani high officials.
Earlier, while addressing the participants, Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid said the present day nature of the common challenges in our region is complex, multi-dimensional and trans-national and urged for stronger emphasis on risk prevention and identification of the role of all stakeholders from national to local level. He observed that the multi hazard threats posed by natural calamities outlines a dire need as well as great scope for extensive and intense mutual cooperation at the regional level. He also expressed his views on Government of Pakistan's well directed intervention with strong political commitment, ensuring better preparedness to mitigate the negative impacts of disasters.
The sub-theme of the concluding session of the 13th RCC was supporting Heart of Asia (HOA) conference for enhancing regional cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The participants of this session discussed the road map and action plan of HOA and looked for the opportunities for creating synergies with other regional mechanisms. This is aimed at maximising the impact of efforts and strengthening risk reduction capacities of HOA countries with focus on promoting regional cooperation.
The efforts of Pakistan as a co-lead Country with Kazakhstan for Disaster Management Confidence Building Measures were very well acknowledged by all. The meeting ended with the Islamabad Statement summing up the conclusion drawn out of the three days long deliberations and discussions. The RCC was attended by Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey and development partners. International organisations fully endorsed the Islamabad Statement and regarded its recommendations as a valuable objective input for forwarding Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in India in the first week of November. Pakistan was nominated as the focal Country to forward the input to UNISDR.
While concluding the meeting, Chairman NDMA Major General Asghar Nawaz stated that in order to better manage risks and crises at regional level, there is a dire need to create synergies in our joint actions and build partnerships to reduce the impact particularly from natural disasters. He concluded that the forums like RCC provide effective platform for sharing view and deliberating upon issues confronting humanity in an environment of neutrality.
The participants called upon the RCC Secretariat, the United Nations entities, development partners and other relevant stakeholders to develop an integrated macro-level tool to monitor the implementation of the three key global frameworks. Recommend to member countries to leverage RCC as one of regional mechanisms to identify tangible entry points for implementing such global frameworks in accordance to their respective DRR policies and programs. Determined to further facilitate the RCC countries to strive towards attaining resilient development through the following:
Facilitate the application of' disaster data management including disaster related statistics, as appropriate to as the basis for progress monitoring and result reporting of SFDRR implementation. The 13th RCC meeting acknowledged the need for further consultation of the Asia Regional Action Plan, which is imminently to be adopted by the Asian Ministerial Conference on DRR, towards its effective implementation including through national contextualization and appropriate progress monitoring and reporting mechanism.
The meeting recognised that in the context of regional complementarily there is a need for furthering the synergy between the RCC and sub-regional groupings related to disaster and climate risk management including Apec, ASEAN, SAARC, ECO, and Istanbul initiative - Heart of Asia (Disaster Management Confidence Building Measure). The meeting reiterated to establish sustained linkages and policy interfacing with United Nations relevant mechanisms including and not limited to ESCAP Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction as well as the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. Encouraging RCC member countries, to the possible extent, to initiate, facilitate or champion the implementation of the activities recommended in the Islamabad Statement.