Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction today.
This is the first major inter-governmental event after the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).
Scheduled to be held from November 3-5, the conference will pave the way for implementation of the framework in the Asian region and will also devise a mechanism for monitoring its progress.
The Sendai Framework, adopted at the third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March, 2015, is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and identifies targets and priority action areas towards reducing disaster risk.
India is committed to address issues concerning DRR and strengthen resilience to disasters and to realise this, Prime Minister Modi launched India's first National Disaster Management Plan, designed in line with the priorities defined in the Sendai Framework, earlier this year.
On the closing day, the conference will adopt the New Delhi Declaration, a political commitment of participating governments towards preventing and reducing disaster risk.
It will also adopt the 'Asian Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework'. Voluntary statements of action of stakeholder groups towards a 'shared responsibility' approach in implementation of the SFDRR would also be adopted.