Nations to cooperate on emergency management

The China-Central Asia ministerial meeting on emergency management will be held in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Thursday, where a memorandum of understanding is expected to be signed, marking the formal establishment of the China-Central Asia emergency management cooperation mechanism, a Chinese emergency official said on Monday.

Wang Manda, director for international cooperation at the Ministry of Emergency Management, made the remarks at a news conference in Beijing on Monday, adding that emergency response officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have been invited to attend the meeting in Urumqi, Xinjiang's regional capital.

"China and the five Central Asian countries face high risks of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and forest and grassland fires, as well as the challenging task of balancing economic and social development with major risk prevention and mitigation," he said.