On Tuesday November 26, Tajikistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Ismatullo Nasreddin, met in Pakistan with Lieutenant-General Muhammad Afzal, Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Pakistan.
According to the Tajik MFA information department, the two pointed to the necessity of signing an agreement on emergency response cooperation.
Tajik diplomat expressed gratitude to the NDMA for inviting a group of employees of Tajikistan’s Emergencies Committee to take refresher course in Pakistan and pointed to the necessity of expanding bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Pakistan in mitigating and removing effects of disasters.
Lieutenant-General Muhammad Afzal, for his part, proposed to establish regional cooperation in mitigating and removing effects of natural disasters and providing mutual assistance.
The two sides reportedly also discussed issues related to a draft agreement on cooperation in mitigating effects of emergency situations and preparing it for signing.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal authority mandated to deal with whole spectrum of disasters and their management in the country.
The NDMA formulate and enforces national disaster policies at federal and provisional levels and collaborates closely with various government ministries, military forces, and United Nations-based organizations to jointly coordinate efforts to conduct its disaster management, search and rescue, and wide range of humanitarian operations in the country and abroad. The NDMA aims to develop sustainable operational capacity and professional competence to undertake its humanitarian operations at its full capacity.
