Turkey, Qatar, Dominican Republic to convene intl conference on disaster response

Turkey, Qatar, and the Dominican Republic will convene an international conference in Doha later this year on bolstering the effectiveness of military and civil assets in disaster response. The UN General Assembly on Friday adopted a consensus resolution on improving the effectiveness and coordination of military and civil defense assets in responding to natural disasters. The assembly also took note of calls from President Abdullah Gul and his Dominican Republic counterpart Leonel Fernandez on the need to more effectively address the issue of disaster response. "The experience that our country has amassed over the years in fighting disasters has shown how the coordination of civilian and military elements significantly increases the effectiveness of efforts towards this end," the Foreign Ministry said after the resolution's passage. "Turkey will continue to play a leading role in this area by acting with its partners to increase the effectiveness of disaster response worldwide."