Participants in the EPWG meeting pose for a photo (Photo: nchmfnews.com)Khanh Hoa (VNA) – APEC’s Emergency PreparednessWorking Group (EPWG) has held the 11th meeting in Nha Trang city,focusing on promoting the reform of scientific-technological application toenhance the member economies’ resilience to natural disasters.
The event took place within the framework of theongoing first APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting in the city of the south centralprovince of Khanh Hoa.
It was attended by representatives of the 21APEC economies and related international organisations. The Vietnamesedelegation included officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry ofHealth, and the National Committee for Search and Rescue.
At the meeting, Deputy Director of Vietnam’sDirectorate of Water Resources Tran Quang Hoai briefed participants aboutnatural disasters in Vietnam which has been increasingly frequent and severe inrecent years.
He asked the EPWG to promote the study and theapplication of advanced science-technology to effectively support emergencyresponse to natural disasters. It also needs to enhance regional connectivityto devise initiatives on coping with the “new normal of natural disasters”facing the APEC members.
The EPWG was first established as APEC’s TaskForce for Emergency Preparedness in 2005. It is currently co-chaired byVietnamese and Japanese representatives.
In 2017, the group is scheduled to proposerecommendations for a Can Tho declaration on food security enhancement andsustainable agricultural development in response to climate change.
It also plans to build an initiative on boostingthe resilience to the new normal of natural disasters through facilitatingsci-tech reform in disaster prevention and control. The initiative is expectedto be submitted to the APEC economic leaders later this year.
APEC Vietnam 2017 takes the theme of “CreatingNew Dynamism, Fostering A Shared Future”. Vietnam joined the forum in 1998 andalso hosted APEC events in 2006.-VNA
VNA
