President Opens Disaster Risk Reduction Meeting

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace, here on Tuesday officially opened the Global Thematic Consultation on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The two-day meeting was attended by among others experts on disaster risk reduction, Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the chairman of the Indonesia National Committee on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and Jordan Ryan, The United Nations' assistant secretary-general and the director of UNDP Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Recovery.

"Indonesia is honored to host this event, as part of a global consultation series on the Impact of Conflict, Violence and Disaster in the Post-2015 Development Agenda," the president said in his opening remarks.      
    
Yudhoyono, as a co-chair of the UN High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, stated that the meeting is in line with the outreach principle of the Panel's work.

"It also gives us the opportunity to take stock from regional experiences and lessons learnt," he added.

The meeting's topic on "Disaster Risks Reduction and the Post-2015 Development Agenda" is a pertinent issue for countries like Indonesia and many others in Asia and the Pacific which are prone to natural disasters, according to him.

"Above all, I believe your discussions will add value to the works of the Panel, which I have the privilege to co-chair with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom," the head of state said. (*/DWA)