Small island states urged to work together to reduce disaster risk

SUVA, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The South Pacific island nation of Samoa urged on Wednesday the small island countries to work together to reduce disaster risk.

According to a Samoan government statement, speaking at the Commonwealth's fifth global biennial conference on small states held now in Apia, capital of Samoa on Wednesday, Samoa's Finance Minister Sili Epa Tuioti said that Samoa is happy to host this conference with the theme "Building Resilience through disaster Risk Reduction".

"I understand that the meeting is organized to provide ample opportunities for small states to determine appropriate solutions to reduce their disaster risk and better recover from such events when they occur," he said.

There will be consultations with regional and international development partners as well as the private sector on what products and services are available in the disaster risk and disaster finance areas, according to the minister.

He said that small states are vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change and natural disasters and ensuring adequate financing to effectively address the negative impacts of climate change and disasters is fundamental.

disaster risk management is a development and sustainable development issue for all governments of the small states.

In the Pacific region, he said that the Pacific island Forum leaders have consistently called for increased access to, and better management of climate change and disaster risk finance.