The Indian delegation, led by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, and the Russian side under Kurenkov Aleksandr Vyacheslavovich, Minister of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of Russia) held the second meeting of the Commission in Moscow on Wednesday.

During the meeting, three key issues were deliberated within the overall framework of cooperation — use of space monitoring technologies for risk forecasting and emergency response, exchange of experiences of responding to large-scale disasters and cooperation in the field of training of fire and rescue specialists.

Both delegations expressed interests to intensify joint efforts to develop further cooperation in the field of emergency management, to exchange best practices in emergency management, including disaster monitoring and forecasting, and training of rescue specialists and firefighters.

They also expressed intentions to extend cooperation between the eminent educational and research institutions in training specialists in the field of emergency management in both countries.

“This working plan will give added impetus to the bilateral efforts and pave the way for up-gradation, mutual assistance in enhancing early warning systems and capacity building of both the countries in emergency preparedness, prevention, response and planning,” the statement said.

It said this meeting is significant to draw a strategy for executing the previous agreements between India and Russia, such as the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for cooperation in the field of Emergency Management in December, 2010, and regulation to establish the Indo-Russian Joint Commission for Cooperation (2013) in prevention and elimination of consequences of emergency situations.

Both sides also expressed intentions to conduct the next meeting of the Commission in India in 2026.

The first meeting of the Indo-Russian Joint Commission on the Cooperation in the Field of Emergency Management was held here in 2016, it said.

During the meeting, Rai expressed India’s commitment towards the Sendai Framework for substantial reduction of disaster risks in the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 10-point agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction, it said.

First Published: Aug 29 2024 | 12:14 AM IST