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Fiji takes over chair of UN office for DRR support group

July 14, 2018 4:07 am

Fiji took over from Japan today as Chair of the Support Group for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) based in Geneva.

The previous two chairs of the Support Group were the Permanent Representatives of Germany and of Japan to the United Nations in Geneva.

The UNISDR Support Group was founded in 2002 as a self-organised group of member States based on a proposal by the Swiss Government.

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It is intended to strengthen the UNISDR Secretariat, support the role of UNISDR in the field of disaster reduction, and to improve its donor support base.

In accepting the position, Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan highlighted that the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction was central to Fiji’s strategic direction, and that Fiji’s development plans integrated the need to respond effectively to disasters which all Fijians knew would occur and with a greater intensity.

Ambassador Khan says that the Support Group provided a good platform for building partnerships nationally between the private and public sectors, and between civil society and Government, to ensure strong and inclusive disaster risk policies.