APEC ministers issue a joint statement on business continuity and disaster risk reduction

Following the recent 2015 APEC Ministerial Meeting in Manila, a joint statement was issued that covered, amongst other things, business continuity and disaster risk reduction.

Ministers from the 21 21 APEC member economies made the following statements:

Resilient micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)

“We call for greater efforts to promote MSMEs’ resilience against unexpected events, disasters, and financial crises in order to improve global supply chain resilience. We welcome the publication of the Business Continuity Planning Guidebook in seven languages and the APEC SME Disaster Resilient Policy Framework.”

Disaster risk reduction

“We endorse the APEC Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Framework to facilitate collective work in building adaptive and disaster resilient economies supporting inclusive and sustainable development in the face of the ‘new normal’ – the increasing frequency, magnitude and scope of natural disasters, and the resultant disruption to the increasingly integrated and interlinked production and supply chains. The APEC DRR Framework will help enable collaboration in the four interoperable and mutually reinforcing pillars, namely: Prevention and Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Rehabilitation and Build Back Better. We call for the conduct of regular high level policy dialogues or other higher options for APEC engagements focusing on DRR. We also note the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030, which recognizes the significant role of regional cooperation in addressing the threat of natural disasters.

“Consistent with the areas for cooperation identified in the APEC DRR Framework, we emphasize the growing need for cooperation on disaster risk reduction, including through strengthening early warning systems, search and rescue, post-disaster recovery, as well as promoting business continuity planning, initiating the trade recovery communications system, promoting appropriate donations after disasters, and fostering community-based disaster risk management to ensure that communities can economically recover and supply chains can be restored. We commit to craft an action plan through the Senior Disaster Management Officials’ Forum (SDMOF) and EPWG, which shall result from cross-fora collaboration and pave the way towards the operationalization of the APEC DRR Framework.”