Int'l civil defense confab opens with UAE participation  

TUNISIA -- The United Arab Emirates is participating in the 48th session of the International Civil Defence Organisation, ICDO, Executive Council, which commenced on Monday in Tunis. 

Colonel Jassem Abdullah Humaid Al Ali, Director-General of Resources and Support Services, and Colonel Mohammed Abdullah Al Tikawi, Head of Media Affairs Department at the Civil Defence General Directorate, are representing the UAE Ministry of Interior at the meeting.

The three-day session will be attended by the ICDO Executive Council members and Secretary-General. The inaugural session, hosted by the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers, was opened by Tunisian Interior Minister, Mohamed Najem Gharsalli, and Dr. Mohammed bin Ali Kuman, Secretary-General of the Arab Interior Ministers Council. 

Colonel Jassem Abdullah Humaid Al Ali said that several topics on the agenda will be discussed, notably the implementation of ICDO’s ‘Ten-year Strategic Development Programme (2015-2025). Participants will also review the best international practices and experiences in the field of civil defence. He added that the UAE delegation will take part in the inauguration ceremony of the distance training project, which will be implemented in collaboration between ICDO and the Tunisian Republic.

In his speech at the opening of the first session, Dr. Kuman underscored the importance of cooperation between the International Civil Defence Organisation and Arab Interior Ministers Council. Other cooperative projects between both parties include developing a mechanism for Arab Intervention Teams Classification, the International Centre for Operations Coordination project, with the purpose of ensuring coordination in natural disasters and linking the centre to the Arab Interior Ministers Council General Secretariat and the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Academy.

Dr. Kuman said that the upcoming Arab Conference of the Heads of Civil Defence is scheduled to be held in Rabat in early September and will provide the proper opportunity to further discuss these important projects and initiate the implementation process. -end-