ArmInfo. Armenia attaches great importance to the platform created by the UN to discuss problems in disaster risk reduction, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said at the UN headquarters in his speech at the event "Investments in disaster risk reduction as a means of forming an established society". On July 16, the delegation of the Armenian Deputy Prime Minister left for New York.
The co-organizers of this event are Armenia, Colombia, Mongolia, Switzerland and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The Armenian FM presented Armenia's vector on the agenda of sustainable development and the priorities set forth in the declaration of the United Nations World Conference on natural disaster reduction in Sendai, as well as steps taken in this direction. "Our region has a bad experience of disasters, regional and global experience of cooperation in overcoming their consequences." Our country experienced a devastating earthquake 30 years ago. Based on regional experience, we know that steps aimed at reducing risks can and should serve as a tool for strengthening trust to help establish appropriate cooperation between peoples and societies, "he said.
Touching upon the event held in Yerevan on June 26-27, within the framework of the second platform of the program on disaster risk reduction in the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus and the declaration adopted on it, Mnatsakanyan stressed that one of the most important messages of the document is the focus on regional cooperation aimed at strengthening capabilities to confront rdisasters. According to the Armenian Minister, the disasters do not recognize borders, therefore, to effectively counteract them, it is necessary to form real cross-border cooperation.
He also informed that in April 2017 the Armenian government approved a new national strategy for disaster risk management, based on the assessment of the potential of the national strategy, sustainable development goals and the priorities of the Sendai Declaration.
In conclusion, Mnatsakanyan confirmed the importance of international and regional cooperation in the field of disaster risk reduction.