Russia, China to Combat Floods Together – Russian Emergency Ministry

2014/06/06

MOSCOW, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations and China’s Ministry of Water Resources are to carry out joint operations aimed at combating floods under an inter-departmental memorandum on cooperation signed by the heads of the two ministries early Friday.


“Cooperation between our agencies is advancing successfully. We cooperate in efforts aimed at the elimination of emergency situations. The memorandum will allow us to facilitate all the procedures of mutual support and assistance and information exchange, while solving a wide range of issues on securing the safety of both Russian and Chinese citizens,” Russia’s Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov said.


Puchkov also came up with a proposal to set up a special working group tasked with the expansion and implementation of new technologies. “Of course, it would be very interesting to create a joint working group that could discuss projects focused, not only on the elaboration, but also implementation of new technologies. These could be modern approaches to bank protection and construction of engineering structures,” the minister specified.


Chinese Minister Chen Lei in turn stressed that China was ready to cooperate in this sphere. “I am ready to implement all the given directions of cooperation and enhance our business partnership with your colleagues, in particular in combating floods,” Lei said.


In late July 2013, southern regions in Russia’s Far East and northeastern China were hit by floods caused by steady rains. In August-September of 2013, Russia’s Amur, Jewish Autonomous and Khabarovsky regions were devastated by major floods.


Puchkov said that Russia would provide China with data related to the condition of riverbeds following a complex expedition conducted by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations on the Zeya and the Amur rivers on June 9-16.



No comments :

Post a Comment