Hanoi (VNA) - Viet♐nam, together with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, co-chaired the 23rd ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) ꦗInter-Sessional Meeting on Disaster Relief, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on June 4 and 5.

At the meeting, participants reviewed regional cooperation on disaster relief. Amid increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and the growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters such as storms and floods, delegates agreed on the need to further strengthen regional collaboration. Priority should be given to capacity building, preparedness, risk mitigation, and improving the effectiveness of civil-military coordination in humanitarian assistance. They also agreed to utilise existing regional mechanisms and frameworks, particularly those under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ARF. Countries shared national experiences in disaster response and relief, from policy and legal frameworks to organisational structures, mobilisation of forces, equipment, and emergency deployment. Representatives from Russia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka also shared their experiences after participating in relief efforts in Myanmar following the earthquake on March 28. Within the ARF framework, delegates acknowledged progress made in implementing disaster relief cooperation under the ARF Hanoi Plan of Action II (2020–2025) and the ARF Disaster Relief Work Plan (2024–2027), reflecting the shared commitment of ARF member states in this priority area. As co-chair of the meeting, the Vietnamese delegation actively contributed to coordinating the discussions and proposed several key orientations. These included strengthening coordination and cohesion among regional disaster relief mechanisms to ensure complementarity and mutual support, enhancing coordination in international relief efforts, and resuming ARF disaster response exercises. Vietnam also proposed a comprehensive assessment of the implementation of the ARF Hanoi Plan of Action II, including its disaster relief component, as a foundation for developing the next action plan. On this occasion, representatives from the Vietnamese Ministries of National Defence; Public Security; and Agriculture and Environment presented practical experiences and best practices in emergency preparedness and disaster relief, while putting forward important recommendations to enhance regional cooperation. These contributions were welcomed and highly appreciated by participating delegates. The ARF Inter-Sessional Meeting on Disaster Relief is one of the five ARF inter-sessional groups focusing on the forum’s key priority areas. Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh are currently co-chairing this group for the 2024–2027 period./.