NNA - The first Arab regional conference on disaster risk reduction opened up on Tuesday morning at the Movenpick Hotel in Aqaba, Jordan, to agree on a common Arab position on the region's input to the international framework for disaster risk reduction, which will be agreed at the 2015 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.



The three-day Conference takes place under the patronage of Jordanian Princess, Sumaya Bint El Hassan, with the participation of 250 representatives from the Arab States region. The Conference is co-organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and the League of Arab States.



Lebanon was represented at the Conference by a twelve-member delegation, mainly Local Councils and Administrations Director General, Khalil al-Hajal, and Civil Organization Acting Director General, Elias Tawil.



Wednesday's conference program included three respective sessions, the first related to regional progress and the implementation of Hyogo.



The second session was related to developing a Global Disaster Risk Reduction Framework in 2015 "HFA2", chaired by Margareta Wahlstrom, SRSG for Disaster Risk Reduction. Miss Nathalie Zaarour, Project Manager, Disaster Risk Reduction Unit, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, gave a presentation on Lebanon's experience on HFA implementation and expectations from HFA2.



The third session dwelt on a Global Disaster Risk Reduction Framework in 2015 "HFA2", chaired by Carlo Scaramello, Deputy Regional Director for Middle East and Central Asia, World Food Programme (WFP).



===============L.Y.