China, 5 Central Asian nations to establish emergency management cooperation mechanism

BEIJING -- 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.

Wang noted that both China and the five Central Asian nations -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- face high risks of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and forest and grassland fires. The upcoming meeting will review cooperation among the parties on disaster prevention, mitigation, relief, production safety supervision and comprehensive emergency rescue, and further suggestions on deepening practical cooperation will be proposed.

The parties will also conduct practical training exercises for emergency response to oil and gas pipeline incidents.

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.