Workshop focuses on response to disasters

HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi inaugurated a high-level workshop on responding to natural and man-made disasters, and the role and challenges of relief and development work.
In his speech at the workshop, HE al-Muraikhi stressed during that Qatar spares no effort in the areas of addressing disaster risk and developing proactive plans to address it and deal with it in a timely and preventive manner through the issuance of laws related to governmental and non-governmental humanitarian organisations and donor institutions, which direct support and relief to all countries affected by natural disasters.
He also highlighted the establishment of governmental entities, including the Standing Committee for Rescue, Relief and Humanitarian Assistance, in the affected areas of other countries.
The workshop is organised by the International Co-operation Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), in co-operation with the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva with the participation of the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the UN in Geneva, ambassador Ali Khalfan al-Mansouri.
The workshop has been attended by representatives from the Permanent Committee for Emergency at the Ministry of Interior, permanent committee for the work of rescue and relief in the affected areas in brotherly and friendly countries at the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), representatives of Qatari humanitarian, charitable and development institutions and a number of embassies accredited to the State.
It has also been attended by HE Sheikha Hessa bint Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the Arab League for Humanitarian Affairs; director of Sustainable Development at the Arab League Nada El Agizy; UN Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs Dr Ahmed bin Mohamed al-Muraikhi, head of response services to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs Zola Dowell; and Undersecretary-General for Partnerships, International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC), Dr Jemilah Mahmood.
At the end of the workshop, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for a co-operation agreement between the MoFA and IFRC. The MoU was signed by the director of MoFA’s International Co-operation Department, ambassador Tariq Ali Faraj al-Ansari, and Dr Mahmood.
HE the Minister of State said Qatar is committed to forging partnerships regarding the issue of addressing the risk of disasters at the regional or global level, adding that the country is proud to have excellent relations with regional and international disaster risk response agencies, in particular partnerships with all relevant United Nations bodies.
He added that wide participation in the workshop confirmed the international community’s commitment to disaster risk reduction and the promotion of relief work at the national, regional and international levels for prevention, response and disaster recovery, especially in the light of an increasing number of natural and man-made disasters in the world.