MOSCOW, June 15 (AVN) - Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu will receive ambassadors of 15 Latin American and Caribbean nations forming the GURLAC group on June 20, a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry told the Military News Agency on Friday.
According to Deputy Emergencies Minister Yuri Brazhnikov, the ambassadors plan to study the ministry's activities as well as the work of the crisis management centre. The officials and Shoigu will also discuss co-operation development in the sphere of preventing emergencies and eliminating their consequences.
"Many countries of the region are subject to various natural disasters such as earthquakes, forest fires, hurricanes and floods which cause a huge number of human victims and cause serious material damage," Brazhnikov said. The Mitch hurricane alone, which took place at the Atlantic coast of Central America in 1988, claimed 11,000 lives and caused USD7bn of damages.
That is the reason why many countries of the region value professional skills of the Russian Emergencies Ministry and its experience in the sphere of international humanitarian aid, the deputy minister stressed. They take serious interest to the co-operation in all spheres, paying major attention to the Russian technologies of aerial fire-fighting and wide-scale mine clearance, he added.