On July 17, Minister of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief Vladimir Puchkov attended the first joint meeting of a trilateral Board of the Ministries of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in Gomel, Belarus.
Addressing participants, Mr Puchkov noted that the decision to change the format of bilateral board meetings to the trilateral format has ensured more effective joint efforts to prevent emergencies and to conduct clean-up operations.
Moreover, Mr Puchkov believes that the new format of cooperation helps to improve border cooperation, including more effective operations of rescue services, simplified border-crossing procedures and the organisation of mutual assistance.
Addressing the meeting, Mr Puchkov proposed establishing a Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan group, which will expand and develop early-warning systems.
Mr Puchkov also drew attention to the need for comprehensive cooperation among all agencies during the training of senior officials in charge of early-warning issues.
He expressed confidence that the decisions of the board meeting will help develop the early-warning, emergencies-prevention and clean-up operations system still further.
Participants in the meeting also examined the procedure for fulfilling the decisions of the previous meeting of the Joint Board and implementing cooperation priorities for 2014.
The meeting also involved senior officials for civil defence, emergencies and disaster relief from Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as Chairman of the Ukrainian State Service of Emergency Situations Mikhail Bolotskikh.
Source: Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief
