HE the Deputy Premier and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud with other dignitaries at the conference on HOPEFOR initiative in Turkey yesterday.


QNA/Antalya, Turkey

A working group chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with 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, which will cover the Middle East and West Asia, to improve the use of military and civil defence assets in disaster relief operations.
This came in a speech delivered by HE the Deputy Premier and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud 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 centre will strengthen co-ordination and regional co-operation and 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 in the first conference on the ‘HOPEFOR’ initiative, which was held in Doha in November last year.
Al-Mahmoud  explained that Qatar, under the leadership of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and HH the Heir Apparent  Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, has organised sessions and workshops in Doha and New York, with a wide range of stakeholders and in close co-operation with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations, in order to further enhance the ‘HOPEFOR’ initiative, and find the best means to meet the needs and the growing burden placed on military and civil defence in relief operations and provision of humanitarian aid.
Al-Mahmoud  highlighted the goals of ‘HOPEFOR’ initiative launched by HE the  Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim 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 United Nations General Assembly at  its 65th  session, adopted by consensus, the resolution No. 65/307, entitled “Strengthening the effectiveness and co-ordination 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 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.
The Deputy Premier spoke about the relationship between climate change and natural disasters, noting in this regard  the 18th United Nations Conference on climate change, currently hosted by Doha to discuss a package of policies and agreements that aim to meet the challenge of global climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.
Al-Mahmoud said that climate change has led to increased frequency of extreme weather such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and global warming in different parts of the world.
He stressed that states can mitigate the loss and recover through governments’ investment in the prevention of natural disasters, and to give priority to strengthening the capacities of disaster preparedness, show flexibility in dealing with this challenge by knowing how to make good decisions about risk management.
Al-Mahmoud called for discussing how to establish an effective relationship between humanitarian organisations and the military, based on fundamental principles such as integrity, impartiality, in order to respond effectively to natural disasters.  
Al-Mahmoud added: “I would like to reaffirm that the primary responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance to any area rests with the affected state, and that the approval of this state with respect for their sovereignty, is inevitable and necessary to provide any assistance from other state-specific, and according to international law.”
Qatar will chair the third panel discussion of the conference, which will be held today to discuss the civil-military co-ordination in the field of disaster management.