Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, the 51st Executive Council Session of the International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO) kicked off at Sheraton Doha on Monday, 26 March.

The Executive Board meeting was attended by 19 out of the 22 member countries of the Executive Council. With the quorum, the discussions on the agenda started and the topics and ideas proposed for the development of the Organization's work mechanism during the next phase were also discussed.

Opening the sessions of the Executive Council, Deputy Secretary-General of ICDO, Belkacem Elketroussi, thanked and congratulated the State of Qatar, the Emir, the Government and the people and the Ministry of the Interior represented by the General Directorate of Civil Defence who worked day and night to provide a good atmosphere for the meetings.

 On the most important discussion at the Executive Board meeting, Mr. Belkacem Elketroussi said that it was a review of the internal law of the Organization. The law, which is the backbone and core of the International Civil Defence Organization, must be re-updated and adapted to the evolving reality of the world.

He said that the current law of the organization was established in 1976, and the world situation in a certain way going very different where we are now living in the era of globalization and technology, which means that internal law should be in line with these developments and to have a forward-looking vision for the next two decades.

He pointed out that the development of events and occurrence of disasters in an accelerated manner, and far from the expectation, such as major forest fires, which hit last year the largest developed countries in the world as well as floods were beyond their control that they could not face it.

He added that the loss of 2016 was about 437 billion dollars, according to the estimate of insurance companies, causing the collapse of the economies of countries from these disasters. Our opinion as an international organization of decision makers is that the safe state should be well-found with strong civil defence that can protect their property and economy.

In his opening speech the Secretary-General of ICDO, Dr Vladimir Kuvshinov said: "Today, with cooperation of all Member States, the International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO) is strengthening its work and we are very ready to advance and meet the challenges we face. Throughout the world, we have seen various areas of cooperation in the field of civil defence. The increasing disasters that we see and the enormous problems that threaten humanity in the international community highlight the importance of our work”.

He stressed that only through cooperation among Member States can be made positive things, noting that no country was able to raise the challenges alone, that underscores the importance of collaboration among states to move the Organization forward in its work.
Secretary-General of ICDO presented the report on the activities of the Organization at its 50th session.

He pointed out that the General Secretariat, at its previous session, had focused on the resolution adopted by the Executive Council at the fiftieth session, specifically, the renewal of the Organization's ten-year operation program and the strengthening of bilateral and multilateral relations and the activities of the Organization in that period on multi levels.

On the achievements made by the Organization during that period, he pointed to the improvement of the mechanisms of documentation and development of the use of ICTs. He stressed the importance of the contributions of member states financially, as well as works on the development of the museum of the organization.

Staff Brigadier Abdullah Muhammad Al Suwaidi, Director General of Civil Defence stressed that the State of Qatar was among the foremost countries to host such conferences in the belief of the importance of international cooperation and humanitarian fields. It also seeks, in cooperation with Member States, to develop the Organization and make it in the right place for the technological development that prevails in the world. He added that such meetings are a good opportunity to exchange experiences and the meeting of the Executive Council will contribute to the development of the work of the Organization and achieve the hopes of member states.