Brussels, 13/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - A new step was taken in EU-Japan cooperation on the prevention and management of disasters in Tokyo on 11 November, with the aim of increasing the resilience of Japanese and European companies and also of companies in developing countries.
The strengthening of this cooperation was central to talks between Akihiro Ohta, the Japanese minister for land issues, infrastructure, transport and tourism, and Kristalina Georgieva, the European commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response, at a ministerial meeting to prepare for the EU-Japan summit next week (19 November in Tokyo). Aware of the increasing number of extreme climatic phenomena and large-scale natural disasters, the devastating impact of which must be reduced, both sides are determined to make use of specific exchanges of technical skills and experience to promote mutual lessons learned regarding preparations for and responses to disasters.
Both sides wish to promote, at international level, the need to include strategies to reduce the risks of disasters in sustainable development and poverty reduction policies. Wishing to make a joint contribution to the consolidation of the Hyogo action framework for risk reduction, they stress the importance of the third international conference on reducing the risks of disaster (Sendai, Japan, March 2015) to revise this framework for action by establishing solid links with the global framework for development post-2015. The EU and Japan also wish to step up their cooperation to help to promote the management of disasters in the developing countries by means of the exchange of information and best practice. A bilateral meeting at expert level will be held in Japan early in 2014. (AN/transl.fl)