Within the framework of the regional platform for disaster risk reduction, which took place in Budva, Montenegro, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan met with Kamal Kishor, the UN Secretary General's special representative for disaster risk reduction.

Deputy Minister Arpine Sargsyan expressed her gratitude for the constant support of the work carried out in this direction by the UN Human Rights Office in Armenia, pointing out the expert support for the development of the Human Rights Strategy and a number of processes of localizing international experience in the field.

Referring to the ongoing sectoral reforms in Armenia, the deputy minister noted that they create a new opportunity for developing institutional capacities in disaster risk reduction, paying particular attention to forming tools for financing disaster risk reduction. He also highlighted the localization of the loss and damage accounting tools for disaster risk reduction in Armenia, the effectiveness of which can be significantly contributed by the system being updated by the international expert group. Arpine Sargsyan also mentioned the recently received invitation to join the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), which can become one of Armenia's most important cooperation frameworks in disaster risk reduction.

Special Representative Kamal Kishore responded positively to Armenia's readiness to join the CDRI, stressing that he has a significant personal contribution to this initiative based in India and is ready to support Armenia in joining the coalition. Kamal Kishore highly appreciated the ongoing processes in Armenia to reduce the risk of disasters, noting that he is well aware of the active involvement of Armenian specialists in the implementation of the framework program of Sendai actions.

Regarding the development of tools for the financing of the UN, the Office of the UN is making active efforts; Kamal Kishore noted that a technical workshop is planned in December in Armenia, in which the experienced specialists of the Europe and Central Asia office will take direct part. The workshop results will further contribute to global discussions on developing high-level financing tools, which he promised to be consistent so that financing frameworks focus not only on response capacity but also prevention and mitigation measures. "Armenia's experience in this direction can be encouraging for other countries," said the special representative of the UN Secretary-General.

Special representative Kamal Kishor also expressed his willingness to support the more active involvement of Armenian specialists in training specialists to collect data on disaster losses.