The head of the Department of Emergency Situations, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Raed Arafat, said on Saturday that the Memorandum on Cooperation in the Field of Emergency Situations, signed with Chile, is aimed at cooperation in the field of intervention during earthquakes and forest fires.

Raed Arafat with Klaus Iohannis during an official visit to ChilePhoto: Presidency.ro

“This is a memorandum of cooperation between Romania and Chile at the level of institutions involved in civil protection, the DSU with all coordination structures and their emergency response or emergency coordination agency within the Ministry of the Interior. Cooperation will take place in several directions. One is about earthquakes, where we have some knowledge from others, from intervention to prevention, to all aspects related to earthquakes. Another area will be forest fires. During the last period, Europe intervened in Chile to support them in the fight against the devastating forest fires that occurred there. So there will be a direction of cooperation in this area as well. It is obvious that Romania can (intervene – not) within the framework of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, as it was until now. Exchange of knowledge, experience, training, personnel training can still be achieved in the next period,” explained DSU head Raed Arafat, who is in Chile, according to Agerpres.

He clarified that technical negotiations will begin after the signing of the memorandum.

“Today we will hold the first discussion at the level of heads of institutions, after which we will determine the people who will take care of this cooperation in order to concretize it on the ground,” Raed Arafat also said.

A memorandum of cooperation between Romanian and Chilean emergency management agencies was signed on Saturday in the presence of President Klaus Iohannis and his Chilean counterpart Gabriel Borich.

On behalf of Romania, the document was signed by DSU Chairman Raed Arafat at La Moneda Palace in Santiago de Chile.

  • VIDEO Klaus Iohannis received by the President of Chile. The heads of the two states signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of emergency situations