PM Modi’s Principal Secy participates in high-level panel in NY on reducing disaster risk in landlocked developing countries

New York [US], May 20 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Principal Secretary PK Mishra on Friday participated in a high-level meeting in New York where he talked about scaling up resilience and reducing disaster risk in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs).

The high-level panel was organised by the government of Botswana. The panelist during the meeting recognised several challenges faced by LLDCs.

“Dr P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary @PMOIndia participated in a high-level panel organized by @BWGovernment on ‘Scaling up resilience & reducing disaster risk in Landlocked Developing Countries. Recognised challenges faced by LLDCs & highlighted @cdri_world

has 6 LLDC members,” the official Twitter handle of India at UN tweeted.

Mishra also underlined India’s impressive sharing of risk governance approaches at the High-Level meeting of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (HLM) in New York on Friday.

‘Impressive sharing of risk governance approaches at High-Level Meeting on #SFDRR showcasing power of integrated solutions. Dr P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary @PMOIndia, highlighted ‘s unwavering commitment to break sectoral silos & forge new paths in #DRR,” India at UN tweeted.

During his visit, the Principal Secretary also met United Nations Development Programme administrator, Achim Steiner.

Taking to Twitter, Steiner wrote, “Pleasure to meet Dr PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India. Discussed #India’s lead role – incl. via #G20 – to investment in #DigitalPublicInfrastructure, an effort supported by #OneFutureAlliance as well as #SendaiFramework & @cdri_world partnership.”

PK Mishra also paid heartfelt homage to the bust of Mahatma Gandhi at UN headquarters in New York.

On Thursday, Mishra said that India gives high importance to disaster risk reduction issues and in just over a decade, “we have been able to reduce the loss of lives from cyclones to less than 2 per cent.”

“In India, we accord high importance to disaster risk reduction issues; it is a central public policy issue. We have significantly increased funding earmarked for disaster risk reduction,” he said while addressing the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Midterm Review of the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (HLM) in New York on Thursday (local time).

“In just over a decade, we have been able to reduce the loss of lives from cyclones to less than 2%. We are now developing ambitious mitigation programmes to reduce the risk of losses from all hazards – Landslides, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods, Earthquakes, Forest Fire, Heat Waves, and Lightning,” he said.

He highlighted that under India’s chairmanship, G20 members have agreed to establish a Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

He also said that states bear the primary responsibility for stopping the creation of new disaster risks and reducing existing disaster risks.

Mishra was addressing the India-Japan side event on ‘The Roles of States for Promoting Investments in Disaster Risk Reduction Towards Resilient and Sustainable Future’.

Mishra said: “The fact that both G7 and G20 have accorded priority to disaster risk reduction indicates that the issue is now getting attention at the highest level in the global policy discourse.”