ASEAN ministers has adopted a draft of the ASEAN statement on
strengthening cooperation and management of natural disasters, to be
submitted to the ASEAN Summit this year.

This was
one of the outcomes of the second ministerial meeting of the
Conference of Parties (COP) to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster
Management and Emergency Response in Hanoi on May 30.

At a press conference following the meeting, ASEAN Secretary General
Le Luong Minh said this is the first time ASEAN has had a high-level
statement on natural disaster prevention and humanitarian relief,
reflecting the bloc’s deep concerns with the issue.

According to Minh, ASEAN will organise a meeting with partners to
mobilise resources from its member countries and international donors to
increase the bloc’s capabilities to effectively deal with disasters.

Vietnam’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development Cao Duc Phat revealed some additional outcomes of the
meeting including an action plan on ASEAN cooperation in natural
disaster management in the 2013-2015 period, a proposal for an annual
ASEAN ministerial meeting on natural disaster management, among others.

The ASEAN ministers also agreed to organise an
exercise on responding to natural disasters in Hanoi and an ASEAN Day
for Natural Disaster Management in Bangkok, Thailand this October.-VNA