On 14-15 September 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam jointly held the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) High-Level Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management: Innovation and Technology for Resilience-based Sustainable Development.
The conference attracted the participation of more than 100 delegates from ASEM members, including senior policy-makers, national and local government officials and experts from ASEM partners, disaster managers, researchers, practitioners and representatives from international and regional organisations, international humanitarian assistance organisations, NGOs and businesses.
The meeting was an initiative proposed by Viet Nam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the 12th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Luxembourg in 2015.This initiative was co- sonsored by the European Union, Belgium, India, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the Philippines. The meeting is to provide a platform for ASEM partners to exchange best practices, consolidate proposals to enhance cooperation in application and utilisation of innovation and technology in disaster risk reduction and management to support the achievement of the goals of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 – 2030, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement.
It is expected that the recommendations of this meeting will be reported to the 13th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Myanmar in 2017 and to the 12th ASEM Summit in Belgium in 2018 through the ASEM Senior Officials Meeting (SOM).
