This draft directive was submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On 8 November 2013, the destructive Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit nine Filipino regions with a population of about 50 million. About 11 million people lost their homes and means of subsistence, and 700,000 were forced to relocate.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in cooperation with the Filipino authorities, drafted an emergency disaster relief plan after the typhoon.
Over the next six months, the UN is planning high-priority disaster relief and cleanup projects at an estimated cost of $301 million in the Philippines. The projects will aim to prevent famine and pandemics in the affected areas, to set up temporary camps for homeless families and to rebuild the utility mains.
Taking into consideration the dire humanitarian situation in the Philippines, as well as the country’s membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with which Russia maintains partner relations, it is deemed important to join the efforts of the international community in providing bilateral and multilateral humanitarian relief aid to the people of the Philippines.
This step will strengthen bilateral Russian-Filipino relations and Russia’s authority as an active donor of international humanitarian assistance.
Under the signed directive, lump-sums of up to $1 million will be contributed in 2013 as special-purpose contributions to the UNICEF budget, the budget of the World Health Organisation, the UN World Food Programme and the UN Development Programme budget, respectively, and up to $500,000 will be contributed to the budget of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The 2013 expenses being stipulated by the directive shall be financed from budget allocations, due to be received by the Ministry of Finance from the International Relations and International Cooperation subsection of the State Issues section of the budgetary spending classification of the 2013 federal budget.
