The Second Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), held recently in Hanoi, was attended by Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung, and chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, as Chair of COP in 2013.
The COP was the second meeting held after the AADMER entered into force on December 24 2009. The COP, which is the policy governing body to the AADMER, meets at least once every year.
At the outset, Mr Vu Van Tu, Director General of Department of Dyke Management, Flood and Storm Control (DDMFSC) and Chief of Standing Office of Central Committee of Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC) of Vietnam, as the newly elected Chair of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), presentedthe AADMER Work Programme Phase 1 Accomplishment Report, which was subsequently adopted by the COP. The report outlines the progress of implementation of AADMER Work Programme Phase 1 (2010-2012), and identifies some gaps and challenges, as well as strategies to address them.
The COP noted several major milestones that have been achieved under Phase 1. The COP also took note of 17 flagship projects as priorities for Phase 2 implementation (2013-2015),as contained in Chapter 5 of the Accomplishment Report. The Accomplishment Report will be disseminated to the partners and made available online at the ASEAN website (www.asean.org) and the AHA Centre’s website (www.ahacentre.org).
The COP was encouraged with the progress on making operational the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), and the effective role the AHA Centre played in the recent disasters that occurred in the region. The meeting noted the report of the ACDM that the current operation of the AHA Centre has been supported through the AHA Centre Fund, which consists of annual and equal contributions from the Member States, as well as generous contributions from ASEAN Dialogue Partners, in particular Australia, European Union, Japan, New Zealand and United States of America.
The COP noted several response mechanisms that have been put in place to facilitate ASEAN’s collective response to disasters, including the fully functioning ASEAN-Emergency Rapid Assessment Team (ERAT) and the ASEAN Disaster Emergency Logistic System. To promote synergy among various ASEAN-related mechanisms and to further strengthen civil-military coordination on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the COP encouraged the use of ASEAN’s response mechanisms under AADMER, in particular the AHA Centre, the ASEAN-ERAT and the ASEAN Standby Arrangements and Coordination of Joint Disaster Relief and Emergency Response (ASEAN-SASOP), in the upcoming exercises that will be held in the region.
The COP recognised the importance of time and speed in the mobilisation of ASEAN’s response mechanisms to disasters, and concurred with the recommendation of the ACDM to set up an AHA Centre Revolving Fund to be managed by the AHA Centre. The Revolving Fund will consist of, among others, balance from the ADMER Fund that has been used for emergency relief purposes.
The COP also took note of the some major events that will take place in the current year in relation to the launch and implementation of the AADMER Work Programme Phase 2.
During the First Meeting in March 2012, the COP committed to realise ASEAN Leaders’ decision to ensure that AADMERshould remain as the main regional policy backbone and coordinating platform for disaster management in ASEAN. Further to this, at this Second Meeting, the COP resolved to promote synergy and coordination among various ASEAN-related mechanisms on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
In view of the above, the COP supported ACDM’s proposal to form a Joint Task Force composed of ACDM and senior officials from other relevant ASEAN bodies. For this purpose, the ACDM Chair will coordinate with other chairs of relevant ASEAN bodies to form the Joint Task Force, whose main purpose is to promote synergy and coordination among the relevant internal ASEAN mechanisms related to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, using AADMER as the regional policy backbone and common platform.
To ensure continued discussion on linkages between the EAS paper A Practical Approach to Enhance Regional Cooperation on Disaster Rapid Response (EAS Disaster Management Initiative) and the AADMER Work Programme, the COP supported ACDM’s decision to have a regular forum, such as through the open sessions of ACDM meetings.
Giang Tu
Đăng ký: VietNam News
