ISLAMABAD: The Istanbul Conference for Afghanistan: Security and Cooperation in the Heart of Asia, adopted a declaration (also called the Istanbul Process document) and enlisted 43 Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) for implementation by Heart of Asia Countries including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the UAE and Uzbekistan.
Subsequently, the Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference at Kabul shortlisted 7 CBMs for implementation in the first phase including Disaster Management with Pakistan and Kazakhstan selected as the co-leads for Disaster Management- Confidence Building Measures (DM-CBM) and Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey agreed to participate in the implementation of the Disaster Management CBM. While Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Sweden, Denmark, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States and delegates from international and regional organizations including United Nations, NATO, the World Bank and the European Union announced to be the supporting countries and organizations. The following 7 CBMs were adopted during the conference;
1) Disaster Management CBM (led by Pakistan and Kazakhstan)
2) Counter Terrorism CBM (led by Afghanistan, Turkey and UAE)
3) Counter Narcotics CBM (led by Russian, Azerbaijan)
4) Chambers of Commerce CBM (led by India)
5) Commercial Opportunities CBM (also led by India- it may be noted that since the subjects are alike and India leads both CBMs these have been practically amalgamated into one CBM that is why at 6 CBMs are referred to)
6) Regional Infrastructure CBM (led by Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan)
7) Education CBM (led by Iran)
Pakistan has compiled A “list of Activities” based on offers of support received from participating and supporting countries and organizations, for implementation including evolving jointly action plans, sharing of best practices and organizing joint conferences/activities.
In this regard, NDMA as a lead disaster risk management agency of Pakistan with the support of Norway has organized a two day conference i.e., 12-14 May 2014 on “International Conference on Sharing Experiences and Developing Regional Hazard & Risk Picture for Joint Action Plan” under the DM-CBM of the Heart of Asia (Istanbul Process) for possible planning of future DRM interventions.
The purpose of this Conference is to sensitize the participating and supporting states / organizations regarding development of a regional risk profile and to encourage participants to share experiences and lessons learnt in disaster risk management from their respective countries.
Delegations accompanied by the technical experts on disaster risk management from counterpart agencies / organizations of the respective countries from “Heart of Asia” participating states included Afghanistan. China, Norway, India, Kazakistan, Turkey, OCHA and Sweden included head of the focal agency (Disaster Management Organization) and National technical focal point from each country participated in the conference to assist and share experiences on the development of hazard and risk picture. While officers from Pakistan Met Department, GSP, SUPARCO, PDMAs, MOFA, CCD, various I/NGOs, development partners, donors, besides NDMA officers also participated.
Addressing the Inaugural session Chairman NDMA, Major General Muhammad Saeed Aleem welcomed the participants and delegations from participating and supporting countries, organizations of Disaster Management Confidence Building Measure of Heart of Asia, Istanbul Process for their participation to prepare future course of joint actions to reduce the impacts of disasters from natural and man-made hazards and hoped that meeting shall bring out tangible actionable points as a way forward. He also offered training courses for relevant Afghan officials in different aspects of DRM at National Institute of Disaster Management, NDMA in Islamabad. He assured of Pakistan’s firm commitment to support and assist Afghanistan in enhancing its capacities within the entire spectrum of disaster management.
The honorable Chief Guest Federal Minister for States & Frontier Region, Government of Pakistan Lt. General Abdul Qadir Baloch, in his opening remarks congratulated NDMA Pakistan for organizing the first ever International Conference on Sharing Experiences and Developing Regional Hazard & Risk Picture for Joint Action Plan and the third Regional Technical Group Meeting under CBM on Disaster Management of Heart of Asia Initiative. He expressed desire that the deliberations and outcome of this conference would help in establishing and strengthening systems and mechanisms in participating countries. He emphasized Pakistan being the co-lead on the issue should lead the process of developing disaster management plans at regional level based on national scale risk pictures of individual countries under the DM-CBM.
First day’s proceedings were followed by a cultural show especially organized in the honor of foreign delegates wherein Pakistani folk songs were presented.
The Conference comprised of 5 thematic sessions planned to develop a practical approach as a way forward,to i) develop regional risk picture for informed and resilient development planning through DRR mainstreaming for required response contingency planning (ii) creation of regional response capacity (iii) developing/host nation support mechanism and (iv) climate risk management to address the impacts of changing climate pattern and its impact on the region. The conclusion of each session was followed by a moderated discussion to agree on the objectives and way forward for each suggested theme. The presentations were made by representatives from Norway, Kazakistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, NATO, Turkey, UN-OCHA, China and Sweden on the DRM preparedness and disaster response during the conference.
The Conference was followed by the Third Meeting of the Regional Technical Group for DM-CBM on 14th May 2014 which was participated by Technical Focal Points from all participating and supporting countries and organizations. The RTG meeting reviewed the progress on implementation of DM-CBM Implementation Plan and ‘List of Activities’ under the Plan for possible inclusion of new activities to be proposed / offered by participating countries and organizations.
The closing session of the conference integrated the outcomes of the individual sessions into minutes of meeting and Islamabad declaration, joint action plan for the (DM-CBM) component under Heart of Asia Initiative (Istanbul Process) for further progress/work on the development of the Regional Hazard & Risk Picture.
