The Closing Ceremony of the 6^th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in Bangkok

              On 26 June 2014, M.L. Panadda Diskul, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Interior and Acting Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office together with Mrs. Margareta Wahlström, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, presided over the closing ceremony of the 6^th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in Bangkok.  The Conference was attended by over 4,000 participants comprising Thai and foreign government officials, business delegates and relevant stakeholders in disaster management area from 50 countries (Ministerial delegates from 18 countries and senior officials from 20 countries). 

              The Conference was a significant forum to achieve implementation of the Hyogo framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA). It also provided sessions for organizations in disaster management in Asia Pacific at all levels including ministerial level, chiefs of organizations, stakeholders and local communities to revise HFA’s past implementation and to share experiences and best practices of disaster management in order to develop the comprehensive measures and vision for disaster risk reduction in every dimension.

              The Conference adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia and the Pacific 2014 which was prepared by the drafting committee of Governments, stakeholders and United Nations agencies chaired by Mr. Thani Thongpakdi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations in Geneva.  The Declaration attaches great importance to promoting investments to enhance resilience at local levels, promoting private investments as well as public-private partnership for disaster risk reduction.  In addition, the Conference adopted the proposal for the Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (HFA2) of the Asian region and guidelines for stakeholder’s engagement in HFA2.

              The Declaration recognized the importance of people-centered development models, which reduce the impact of uncertainties and increase self-immunity of local communities as guided by, inter-alia, the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy of His Majesty the King of Thailand as recognized by the UN Development Programme’s Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award.

              The Conference also provided the key inputs for the 3^rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in March 2015 in Japan where the HFA2 is expected to be adopted.

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                                                                                                                                     27 June 2014