HE Al Attiyah Hopes that Hopefor Initiative Contributes to Improve Natural Disasters Assets Management

Doha, November 28 (QNA) - Assistant Foreign Minister for Follow up Affairs, HE Mohammed bin Abdullah Rumaihi has voiced hope that the International Conference on the Hopefor initiative which HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani has launched , would contribute to realize the cherished target for improving the efficiency of the civil and military assets management for confronting the natural disastars. In his keynote address before the high level meeting of the aforesaid conference here earlier Tuesday, HE Mohammed bin Abdullah Rumaihi said that HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister announced the Hopefor initiative in New York in June, 2010 during his lecture he delivered before the international peace institute in New York. HE Mohammed bin Abdullah Rumaihi further said that Qatar, in collaboration with the president of the Dominican Republic Leonel Antonio Fern?ndez Reyna and Turkish president Abdullah Gul have showcased their due concern for the need to respond to these natural disasters more effectively and efficiently. They will share the outcome of the conference with the United Nations General Assembly with an aim to strengthen the international response to natural disasters, HE the Assistant Foreign Minister for Follow up Affairs said. Elaborating Abdullah Rumaihi further said, "Natural disasters are predicted to occur more frequently and with increased intensity. This raises the question of how local and international capacities for preparedness and response to natural disasters can be strengthened." It was launched to enhance the effectiveness and co-ordination of military and civil defence machinery while dealing with natural disasters. HopeFor functions with several stakeholders and in collaboration with United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, he said adding , ''We hope that via the concerted efforts with these two countries, the Dominican Republic and turkey, such an initiative would be able to best improve effectiveness and efficiency of the use of the military and civil defence assets in relief operations with a widescale international participation. The participants held a seminar earlier Monday on setting up a global network of civilian and military practitioners from both assisting and affected states'' alike within the context of the Hopefor initiative. For his part, President of the UN General Assembly HE Nasser Bin Abdulaziz Al Nasr has said the the International Conference on the Hopefor initiative would pave the way for enhancing the efficiency of the use of the civil and military assets management for confronting the natural disastars. In his speech before the conference and read out on his behalf by his representative HE dr. mutlaq majid al qahtani , HE Al Nasr said several world countries including Haiiti , pakistan , japan and turkey have been hit fatah disasters of late noting that such catastrophes did not differentiate between the rich and the poor countries as such catastrophes had claimed lots of casualties and heavy losses . Scientists , HE al nasr said have predicted the increase of such natural disasters in the coming year. Elaborating President of the UN General Assembly HE Nasser Bin Abdulaziz Al Nasr further said that the financial , social and political cost of those disasters are on the rise noting that in the past year alone , the world has witnessed more than 347 natural disasters which had tragically affected more than 255 million people, and more than 100,000 people were killed and the economic cost were estimated at more than $ 304 billion. HE al nasr made clear that these natural disasters are a real reminder to the international community of the importance of giving priority to disaster preparedness and to ensure the effectiveness of them. He added that the experiences and lessons learned over the past decades, also showed that the effective use of the military and civilian asserts to confront these natural disaster can make a real difference on the ground, and that with the increasing incidence of such natural disasters , it is expected that the role of the national and foreign armies would increase to play a greater role, particularly in widescale disasters, which sometimes exceed the capabilities of the humanitarian organizations.(END)