HA LONG, 13 October 2023 – The 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM) and 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (COP to AADMER) took place from 9 to13 October. The meetings were hosted by the Government of Viet Nam as Chair of AMMDM and ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) in 2023.
ASEAN Ministers convened for the 11th AMMDM to discuss the implementation of the five priority programmes of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme 2021-2025. The meeting was chaired by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam Le Minh Hoan and Minister of Home Affairs of Brunei Darussalam and AMMDM Vice Chair Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman.
In his opening remarks, Minister Le Minh Hoan thanked the ASEAN Ministers in charge of disaster management or their representatives and the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) for their efforts during the two-decade journey to improve natural disaster risk management capacity in the region. The AMMDM and DSG ASCC shared their statements on the theme From response to anticipatory action and resilience: ASEAN’s journey towards global leadership in disaster management and adopted the Ha Long Ministerial Statement on the Strengthening of ASEAN Anticipatory Action in Disaster Management.
The 11th AMMDM/12th Conference of Parties to AADMER, 3rd AMMDM Plus China, 3rd AMMDM Plus Japan, Commemoration of 50th Anniversary of ASEAN-Japan Relation, signing of MOIs between AHA Centre and ADRC, AHA Centre and JICA, launch of AHA Centre’s JAIF-funded Projects, and 2nd AMMDM Plus ROK Meetings all took place on 12 October.
From 9 October, a series of meetings starting with the 43rd Meeting of the ACDM preceded the ministerial meetings. The 19th Meeting of the Governing Board of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) and the 4th ASEAN Disaster Resilience Platform (ADRP) took place the following day. Meanwhile, the 6th ACDM Plus Japan, 6th ACDM Plus China, 5th ACDM Plus Republic of Korea (ROK), and Second ASEAN-Japan Public Private Seminar on Innovative Policies and Technologies for Disaster Risk Reduction were held on 11 October.
Held on the sidelines of the AMMDM, ASEAN Ministers and partners gathered to commemorate the ASEAN Day for Disaster Management (ADDM) 2023 in conjunction with the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR): Part 1 on 12 October in Ha Long, Viet Nam. The commemoration event was attended by ASEAN Ministers-in-charge of Disaster Management or their representatives, and Vice Minister of the People’s Republic of China Junhui Hao, State Minister of Cabinet Office of Japan Horii Manabu, the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management, delegates from ASEAN Member States (AMS), Timor-Leste, China, Japan, ROK, and representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat and AHA Centre.
At the 3rd AMMDM Plus China, the progress of implementation of the ASEAN-China Work Plan on Disaster Management was reviewed. Meanwhile, the progress of implementation of the ASEAN-China Work Plan on Disaster Management was reviewed during the 3rd AMMDM Plus Japan. ASEAN appreciated Japan’s long standing support to strengthen disaster preparedness and build resilience through the continuation of the three flagship projects funded funder through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), namely Disaster Emergency Logistics System for ASEAN Phase IV, Strengthening ASEAN-Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) Phase III and AHA Centre Executive-Leadership in Emergency and Disaster Management of ASEAN Programme (ACE-LEDMP).
At the 2nd AMMDM Plus ROK, ASEAN expressed appreciation to ROK’s support for the capacity building programmes to AMS through the projects Disaster Risk Management Capacity Building Programme for AMS, ASEAN Standards and Certification for Experts in Disaster Management, and ASEAN-ROK Capacity Building Programme on Harnessing Advanced Science, Technology and Innovation for Disaster Resilience. The activities aim to enhance disaster preparedness, build capacity, and support humanitarian assistance in ASEAN.
The ADDM continued on 13 October in which the ACDM commemorated its 20th Anniversary. A visit to the Bai Chay Secondary School was arranged, in which approximately 100 students delivered singing and dancing performance. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep awarded the winners of the English-Speaking Contest on disaster risk reduction and climate actions.
The AMMDM Chairmanship was handed over to Brunei Darussalam who assumed leadership of the sectoral body in-charge of disaster management and humanitarian assistance in 2024.
The Chairman’s Statement for the 11th AMMDM could be accessed through this link [Link].
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