The Second Meeting of the Joint Russian- Indian Commission on the Cooperation in the Field of Emergency Management was held today, on 28^th  August 2024 in Moscow, Russia. Shri Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, India is leading the Indian delegation.

During the first day of the visit, the working plan of the Joint Russian- Indian Commission on the Cooperation in the Field of Emergency Management for 2025-2026 was signed by Shri Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, India and Mr. Kurenkov Aleksandr Vyacheslavovich, Minister of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM of Russia).

Both the countries agreed to implement this Plan during 2025-2026 and also decided to continue exchange of the best practices and lesson learnt in the field of Disaster Management. This meeting is significant to draw a strategy for executing the previous agreements between India and Russia, such as, Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for cooperation in the field of Emergency Management in December, 2010 and Regulation to establish the Indo-Russian Joint Commission for Cooperation (2013) in prevention and elimination of consequences of emergency situations. The first meeting of the Indo-Russian Joint Commission on the Cooperation in the Field of Emergency Management was held in New Delhi in 2016.

Within the overall framework of cooperation, the three specific issues were deliberated in the meeting:

1. Use of space monitoring technologies for risks forecasting and emergency response.
2. Exchange of experiences of responding to large-scale disasters.
3. Cooperation in the field of training of fire and rescue specialists.

Based on the results of the meeting, the Indian and Russian delegations expressed their intentions:

(i) To intensify joint efforts to develop further cooperation in the field of emergency management.

(ii) To exchange best practices in emergency management, including disaster monitoring and forecasting, training of rescue specialists and firefighters.

(iii) To extend cooperation between the eminent educational and research institutions, training of specialists in the field of emergency management in both the countries.

(iv) To conduct the next meeting of the Indo-Russian Joint Commission on the Cooperation in the Field of Emergency Management in India in 2026.

This working plan will give added impetus to the bilateral efforts and pave the way for up-gradation, mutual assistance in enhancing early warning systems and capacity building of both the countries in emergency preparedness, prevention, response and planning. Shri Nityanand Rai expressed India’s commitment towards the Sendai Framework for substantial reduction of disaster risks in the country and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s 10-point agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, Government is making sustained efforts to make India, disaster-resilient.

Shri Vinay Kumar, Ambassador of India to Russia was also present with the Indian delegation comprising of Shri Rajendra Singh, Member & HOD NDMA, Shri Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, Additional Secretary, MHA, Director NRSC and other senior officials of MHA.

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RK / VV / ASH / RR