Beijing – China’s Ministry of Emergency Management and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations’ migration agency, yesterday (30/5) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to promote collaboration and mutual assistance on disaster risk reduction and emergency response worldwide. 

The MoC was signed in Beijing by Ministry of Emergency Management Vice Minister Shang Yong and IOM Director General António Vitorino on the occasion of his first official visit to China.  

The document will foster an exchange of knowledge and expertise between IOM and the Ministry. This will include the sharing of relevant standards and guidelines for emergency response operations and coordination, as well as exchanges of experience in helping disaster-affected populations.  

Under the MoC, IOM will also support the Ministry in promoting the establishment of a Belt and Road International Cooperation Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management.  

This is a first step towards cooperation and trilateral collaboration to improve the disaster risk reduction and emergency management capacities of countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.  

Vice Minister Shang Yong noted that: “The signing of this Memorandum of Cooperation marks a new starting point in our cooperation. I warmly invite IOM Director General to attend the Belt and Road Ministerial Conference on Natural Disaster and Emergency Management in 2020 in China.”  

IOM Director General António Vitorino said: “IOM welcomes the opportunity to engage in this important and timely initiative with China. This document ushers in a new era of cooperation between IOM and China at a time when more people than ever before are being displaced by natural disasters and environmental change.”  

The Ministry of Emergency Management was established in 2018 as part of China’s institutional reforms and took on responsibilities and functions previously assigned to various other ministerial departments.   

IOM, which became a related agency of the United Nations in 2016, has extensive global experience and expertise in assisting governments and affected populations to prepare for and respond to natural disasters, and in building resilience. 

For more information please contact Giuseppe Crocetti at IOM China, Email: gcrocetti@iom.int,  Tel: +86 (10) 59799695.