Minister for Rural and Maritime Development Sakiasi Ditoka is leading a delegation from his Ministry and Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) in Jakarta, Indonesia, for a week-long peer-to-peer exchange. This initiative is part of the Trilateral Cooperation Programme involving the governments of Indonesia, Australia, and Fiji.
The exchange program has been organized by the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Disaster Risk Management (SIAP SIAGA) on behalf of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. Its purpose is to foster the sharing of knowledge and experiences on various topics, particularly the establishment of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) and the disaster management system in Indonesia.
The peer-to-peer exchange is in line with one of the Ministry’s five Strategic Priority Areas (SPAs), which focuses on effective coordination and facilitation of national disaster operations and disaster risk reduction. As the current chair of the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Ministers Meeting, Fiji is eager to take advantage of this exchange opportunity to understand better how regional coordination mechanisms function within Southeast Asian countries through the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Centre.
The inaugural Pacific Disaster Risk Management Ministers Meeting was endorsed during the recently concluded 53rd Pacific Island Forum Leaders meeting in Tonga. The program is currently in progress.