China and five Central Asian nations will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) late this month to establish a China-Central Asia emergency management cooperation mechanism, a Chinese official has said.
At a press conference in Beijing on Monday, Wang Manda, director-general of the international cooperation department of China's Ministry of Emergency Management, said that the MoU is expected to be signed during a China-Central Asia ministerial meeting on emergency management scheduled to be held in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on May 30.
"All parties to the meeting will sign a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a China-Central Asia emergency management cooperation mechanism, approve future action plans, visit relevant units and enterprises, help countries comprehensively improve the capabilities in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, safety production supervision, comprehensive emergency response, and deepen collaboration in cross-border rescue," said Wang.
The parties will also conduct practical training exercises for emergency response to oil and gas pipeline incidents.
"Xinjiang, with its unique geographical advantages, will carry out cooperation in the following areas: first, strengthening cooperation in systems and mechanisms for joint prevention and control of natural disasters; second, enhancing exchanges and cooperation in cross-border emergency rescue; third, boosting cooperation in joint prevention and control of border forest and grassland fire; fourth, intensifying cooperation in earthquake and geological disaster prevention and control," said Jarin Nurhamiti, head of Xinjiang's emergency management department.
"We have carried out a number of sci-tech cooperation projects with Central Asian countries, such as joint GPS observation of Tianshan Mountains in Central Asia, construction of a seismic and geomagnetic monitoring network, and source identification and risk analysis of violent earthquakes in the subduction zone located between Xinjiang and Central Asia. These projects have provided valuable data and sci-tech support for earthquake disaster prevention and reduction in Xinjiang and Central Asian countries," said Zhu Fangfang, deputy head of the department for science and technology and international collaboration under the China Earthquake Administration.
Since the first China-Central Asia Summit in May 2023, emergency management departments in China and the five Central Asian countries have been committed to creating a new platform for regional emergency management cooperation, and to deepening cross-border rescue cooperation.
Under the framework of China-Central Asia emergency management cooperation, China has hosted several events over the past year, including high-level think tank forums on emergency management, seminars on improving production safety, and activities to exchange ideas on safety risk prevention.
China, Central Asian nations to establish emergency management cooperation mechanism
