Antalya, Turkey: The Deputy Premier and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud yesterday unveiled plans to form a centre in Doha, which will cover the Middle East and West Asia, to improve the use of military and civil defence assets in disaster relief operations.
The Deputy Premier said the formation of a working group chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the membership of the Defence Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Internal Security Forces will complete the procedures to establish a centre of excellence in Doha and it will provide a global framework for capacity-building and filling gaps in the field of disaster response in the region, in implementation of what has been announced during the first conference on the HOPEFOR initiative, which was held in Doha in November last year.
Al Mahmoud said this at the opening session of the Second International Conference on the HOPEFOR initiative, which kicked off yesterday in the Turkish city of Antalya, in the presence of a number of senior officials in the Turkish Republic with wide regional and international participation.
The Qatari Deputy Premier explained that the State of Qatar under the leadership of the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and the Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has made sincere and vigorous efforts since the start of the HOPEFOR initiative, where in-depth consultations were held through the organisation of sessions and workshops in Doha and New York, with a wide range of stakeholders and in close cooperation with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations, in order to further enhance the initiative, and find the best means to meet the needs and the growing burden placed on military and civil defense of the relief operations and humanitarian aid .
Al Mahmoud highlighted the HOPEFOR goals launched by Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani in June 2010 in New York as well as the consultations and efforts to make this humanitarian initiative a reality.
He added that the Assembly General of the United Nations at its 65th session, adopted by consensus, the resolution No. 65/307, entitled “Strengthening the effectiveness and coordination of the use of military and civil defence assets to cope with natural disasters.”
He pointed out that this decision came as a culmination of the efforts made by the State of Qatar, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic, in mobilising the necessary support for the initiative with both Member States and interested organisations, where the international community recognised the importance of strengthening disaster preparedness by establishing regional and international partnerships, as emphasis was also placed on the fundamentally civilian character of humanitarian assistance, and the need to use military capacity and assets in the event of natural disasters to support the delivery of humanitarian assistance with the consent of the affected State and in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law, and the principles of humanity, he noted. QNA
