At ASEM 7, leaders of ASEM members discussed disaster preparedness and management. In the chair's statement, leaders reaffirmed the importance of conducting practical disaster preparedness and management and reconstruction cooperation with a view to promoting regional and national capacity building in disaster preparedness and management. The Meeting adopted the initiative of "ASEM Cooperation on Capacity Building of Disaster Relief" proposed by China and co-sponsored by Cambodia, Germany, Pakistan and Vietnam.

To implement the initiative, Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China will jointly host the "ASEM Workshop on Cooperation of Capacity Building of Disaster Relief" from 27 to 30 May 2009 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of China.

The Workshop will provide an opportunity for ASEM partners to:

1. exchange views and experiences in disaster risk reduction and disaster relief;
2. conduct feasibility study on establishing an information network on disaster relief capacity and a cooperation mechanism on emergency relief;
3. establish cooperation mechanism and channels of exchange and cooperation in disaster early warning, risk assessment, emergency relief, technology cooperation and personnel training among ASEM partners.