MILAN. July 8 (Interfax) - The Russian emergency situations minister will discuss ways to broaden cooperation with foreign countries and profile international organizations after a European ministerial meeting on disaster risk reduction to be held in Italy on Tuesday.
The European ministerial meeting to be attended by the emergencies ministers of European countries and UN representatives is opening in Milan on Tuesday. The Russian delegation is led by Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov who has arrived in Italy already.
Italy holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
"The meeting will focus on natural disaster risk reduction, which is one of the most important aspects of global cooperation, given the growing awareness that risk reduction and prevention measures are far more sensible economically than efforts to deal with the aftermath," the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's press service said.
"Russia's participation indicates that Russia is playing an important role in the prevention of natural disasters. "This aspect will always be important irrespective of the current political situation," the press service said.
Puchkov is expected to meet with Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN secretary general's special representative for disaster risk reduction, and Civil Defense Department Director Franco Gabrielli.
"Cooperation with the UN is extremely important for us as this international structure has been assisting the countries in need of aid for many years, irrespective of the current political situation in the world," the press service said.