STAFF REPORTER
Guwahati, Aug 18: The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, was
apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on March, 2021 between
the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ministry of Home Affairs,
the Republic of India and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief,
People’s Republic of Bangladesh on Cooperation in the field of Disaster
Management, Resilience and Mitigation. The MoU seeks to put in place a system
whereby both India and Bangladesh will benefit from the Disaster Management
mechanisms of each other and it will help in strengthening the areas of
preparedness, response and capacity building in the field of Disaster
Management. “We must implement the recently-concluded MoU in the field of
disaster management, resilience and mitigation on a priority basis,” said
Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar in a letter sent to his
Bangladesh counterpart Dr. AK Abdul Momen. Bangladesh and India signed a number
of MoUs to enhance cooperation in various sectors, including disaster
management, resilience, and mitigation during Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in March this year. In the letter, Dr. Jaishankar
expressed confidence that these mechanisms will help the two countries remain
better prepared to face such challenges in the future. “We’re glad that
Bangladesh has decided to accept our invitation to join the Coalition for
Disaster Resilient Infrastructure,” said the Indian External Affairs Minister.
The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a partnership of
national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development
banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions
that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems
to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development. The United
States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, the
Maldives, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Argentina and Brazil are among the members of the
initiative. Dr. Momen rightly pointed out that the entire world, in particular
the South Asian region, is witnessing frequent climate related disasters,
mentioned Dr. Jaishankar in his letter. The Indian External Affairs Minister
also stated that capacity building, learning from each other’s best practices
as well as extending support to each other is the need of the hour, according
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here. Dr. Jaishankar thanked Dr. Momen for
his condolence letter for the people who lost their lives in the recent floods
in Maharashtra.
0 Comments