From 3 to 7 May 2010 UN-SPIDER staff participated in the “Workshop on Space-technology Applications in Disaster Risk Reduction” jointly hosted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, P.R.C. and the International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO) and organized by the National Disaster Reduction Center of China (NDRCC ) in Beijing. The workshop provided an opportunity for UN-SPIDER to contribute a technical presentation and introduce UN-SPIDER to the participants. UN-SPIDER used this opportunity to discuss cooperation opportunities of the prospective UN-SPIDER Beijing office with the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The workshop brought together the participants Civil Defence Organisations from 16 countries, namely Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nigeria, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Algeria. The NDRCC provided insight to its state of art space technology and infrastructure used for disaster risk reduction and response.
The workshop was a valuable opportunity to meet in person some of the people involved in hosting and supporting the future UN-SPIDER Office in Beijing. In addition, meetings with Mr. Ahmad Talebzadeh, Director General of APSCO, and with the Deputy Country Representative and Administrative Officer of UNDP were good opportunities to understand and discuss their roles in the establishment of the UN-SPIDER Beijing office and to outline possibilities for technical and organizational cooperation.
