Minister of Home Affairs Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman stressed the importance of increasing regional cooperation with partners to bring innovative solutions, especially in disaster management, to address current and future challenges, in line with ASEAN Day of Disaster Management’s theme, ‘From Response to Anticipatory Action And Resilience: ASEAN’s Journey Towards Global Leadership in Disaster Management’.
He said this during the 11th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM) at Ha Long, Vietnam recently.
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin, who is also the Vice Chair of the AMMDM for 2023, shared the Sultanate’s involvement in supporting the effort and commitment to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) as well as increasing cooperation in disaster management through mechanism available in ASEAN.
It includes Brunei’s involvement in the ASEAN Regional Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise 2023 (ARDEX-23) held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in August 2023 and the ‘One ASEAN, One Response’ roadshow that took place for the first time in the Sultanate in June 2023.
He also noted the Sultanate’s support to the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), such as the deployment of members from the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) to contribute to humanitarian assistance during emergencies, including the Tropical Cyclone Mocha that affected Myanmar this year.
The minister also delivered the proactive actions taken at national level to improve disaster preparedness among communities through the active involvement of trained grassroots leaders certified to be the first respondents to help deal with emergencies in mukims and villages.
The meeting was chaired by Vietnam’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan as Chair of the AMMDM.
It was attended by ministers and ASEAN member states representatives responsible for disaster management.
The meeting’s focus was on planning and proactive action, especially on the implementation of three main components of Framework ASEAN on Anticipatory Action (AA) in disaster management.
The 11th AMMDM passed the Ha Long Ministerial Statement on the Strengthening of ASEAN Anticipatory Action in Disaster Management which demonstrates ASEAN’s commitment to support agendas and moving to an anticipatory or proactive action approach in overcoming the impact of natural disasters in the region, as well as guide ASEAN in achieving its long-term goals for a climate-resilient future.
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin also attended the 12th Conference of the Parties to the AADMER (COP to AADMER).
He also attended the AMMDM with ASEAN dialogue partners, namely Korea, China and Japan, to discuss the results and progress of the disaster management framework and strategic cooperation.
The meetings concluded with the handing over of chairmanship for AMMDM, and the Sultanate will become the host for the 44th ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) meeting and the 13th COP to AADMER in 2024.
Deputy Permanent Secretary (Security and Welfare) at the Ministry of Home Affairs and senior officers from the ministry and the National Disaster Management Centre also participated. – James Kon
