MoSWRR attends ASEAN disaster management and related meetings

Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Thet Thet Khine, Deputy Minister U Aung Tun Khaing, and officials attended the 9th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management and its Related Meetings held from 8 to 14 October.
At the 9th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management, Union Minister Dr Thet Thet Khine discussed the status of the inoculation against the COVID-19 disease in Myanmar, which is crucial in the prevention, control and treatment of the pandemic. She said Myanmar is speeding up the vaccination programme by identifying priority groups, which include ethnic armed groups, internally displaced persons living in temporary camps. As of October 2021, the rate of the COVID-19 infection has dropped to seven per cent while more than 10.6 million people have been vaccinated which is over 12 per cent of the vaccine coverage in the country, she added.
She expressed words of thanks for the humanitarian assistance and the anti-COVID-19 devices and medicines delivered to Myanmar under the consensus of ASEAN leaders. Afterwards, the ASEAN Secretary-General explained the ASEAN member states on the status of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, and the member states participated in the discussion.
During the discussion, the Union Minister said Myanmar, as an ASEAN member state, will cooperate closely with the AHA Centre and the ASEAN Secretariat for ongoing humanitarian assistance, adding that Myanmar is continuously carrying out humanitarian assistance and social protection work that cannot be stopped for any reason, based on basic international humanitarian assistance policies. The Ministry makes sure that no one is harmed by the assistance, no one is left out, that support is provided to all those in need, regardless of their citizenship, races, religions and beliefs, she continued.
The Union Minister also discussed natural disaster management action plans that will be implemented with the cooperation among the ASEAN countries, China, and Japan.
It is also reported that the Director-General of the Disaster Management Department Dr Ko Ko Naing and party also participated in the 15th Board of Directors Meeting of the ASEAN Humanitarian Centre held on 8 October; 39th Meeting of the ASEAN Natural Disaster Management Committee held on 11 October, the Meeting of the ASEAN Natural Disaster Management Committee + China, the 2nd Meeting of the ASEAN Natural Disaster Management Committee + Japan, the 1st Meeting of the ASEAN Natural Disaster Management Committee + South Korea and the 16th Meetings of the Joint Working Group on Humanitarian and Disaster Management. — MNA