MNA – Establishment of the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) office in Tehran is expected to significantly promote national interests, said Iran's head of the Plan and Budget Organization.

Nobakht made the remark in the inauguration ceremony of Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) in Tehran concurrent with an ESCAP conference on ‘Information Management for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience'.

Nobakht met with UN Under Secretary-General Ms. Shamshad Akhtar on Tuesday and signed a MoU on establishing the APDIM office in the Iranian capital.

'The center could promote regional and global peace and a good capacity for Iran and its neighbors to reduce effects of natural calamities," he noted.

Elected members of the Governing Council for the period 2016-2019 took part in the conference, along with the host country the Islamic Republic of Iran, Bangladesh; Cambodia; Macao, China; Nepal; Pakistan; the Philippines; Sri Lanka and Turkey.

The Governing Council of APDIM will hold its second session in Tehran on 31 January 2018. The first session was hosted by New Delhi, India.

The conference, an activity under APDIM, is mostly focusing on risk managements for earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as regional cooperation for combating sand and dust storms in Asia and the Pacific.