Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on May 30 delivered a speech toopen the second Ministerial Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP2) on the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response(AADMER) in Hanoi.

The event, attended by ASEANSecretary General Le Luong Minh and ministers from the association’s tenmember countries, aims to evaluate the results of the first phase ofthe AADMER and outline directions for its second phase (2013-2015).

PM Dung affirmed that at the regional level, disaster management hasalways been one of the prioritised issues of ASEAN and in the bloc’scooperation with its partners.

AADMER has laid animportant legal foundation to promote cooperation in preventing anddealing with disasters in the region, said the PM.

He expressed his delight that the association has recorded commendableprogresses in implementing the first phase of the agreement in the2010-2012 period.

Various important activities havebeen carried out in all four strategic components of Risk Assessment,Early Warning and Monitoring, Prevention and Mitigation, Preparednessand Response, and Recovery, he said.

PM Dung pointedout that disaster management cooperation between ASEAN and its partnershas seen positive results, with many specific projects underway withthe support of partners, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand,the US and the EU.

He suggested that theconference should focus on key issues, especially the enhancement ofcoordination between ASEAN’s disaster management agencies and otherrelevant channels such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), adding that resuming the ASEANMinisterial Meeting on Disaster Management is a practical step forward.

Recommending that the bloc should be more proactivein mobilising resources to effectively implement specific projects, thePM said it is crucial to concretise ASEAN’s agreements and commitmentson cooperation in disaster management at a regional level into anational development plan for each member state, with priorities in thesetting up of an early warning system and raising public awareness, thecompletion of legal documents and upgrading disaster prevention andrelief efforts.

With the strong politicalcommitments of the member countries and the joint efforts of the entireregion, PM Dung said he believes ASEAN will reach its goal of building aCommunity with disaster-resilient nations and safer communities.

He noted that during the last ten years, the number of deaths andcases of missing people due to disasters in Vietnam has escalated to300. Disasters have also cost Vietnam 1.5 percent of its GDP.

Vietnam has designed natural disaster preventionand relief national strategies for up to 2020, as well as steps againstclimate change, while promulgating many important legal documents inthe field, such as the Laws on Water Resource and Natural DisasterPrevention and Fighting, the PM said.

Besides,Vietnam has also actively participated in regional and internationalforums on natural disaster management, while implementing the HyogoFramework for Action on limiting risks caused by disasters.

At the conference, Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Cao Duc Phat emphasised that due to the adverse effects ofclimate change, increasingly unpredictable natural disasters haveimpacted on the lives of people, especially those in rural areas, andthe fulfillment of the United Nations’ millennium development goals.

This requires all ASEAN member countries to work closely together in responding to natural disasters, added Minister Phat.

In recent years, natural disasters have been more diverse,unpredictable and increasingly large, especially sea-level rises,salinisation, earthquakes and tsunamis. Many countries that seldom hadnatural disasters in the past now have to burden their devastatingconsequences.

The Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) comprises ten members, including Singapore, Malaysia,Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand andVietnam.-VNA