Puchkov expects agreement with UN OCHA to improve humanitarian interaction of Emergency Situations Ministry
UNITED NATIONS (New York). Dec 9 (Interfax) - Cooperation with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will improve the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's interaction in the humanitarian field and will ensure the most modern format of assistance to people in need, Russian Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said.
"While interacting with the UN OCHA, we will continue to implement our joint ideas and projects, which are tasked with improving coordination and interaction between every control center supervising humanitarian activity, operations of firemen, rescuers and other units, and the most modern format of assistance to people in need," Puchkov said.
He said that UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien and he signed a three-year cooperation protocol between the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and the UN OCHA on Thursday.
The ministry has a mighty rescue force, which fully meets UN requirements, Puchkov said.
"It is ready to respond to devastating earthquakes, floods and other disasters in any area of the world together with colleagues from developed countries under the UN aegis," the minister said.
The Emergency Situations Ministry has staged "a unique experiment with a successful outcome: we are the world's first to appraise the central airmobile rescue unit compliant with the methods of INSARAG [the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group] for operation in a disaster zone," he said.
"It was appraised by the World Health Organization in 2016 as a mobile hospital ready to operate under the most complex conditions in compliance with international standards. We will continue to spread this positive practice in other countries of the world," Puchkov said.