The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Viet Nam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen the management of disaster response.

By building capacity at MARD to implement what is called an Incident Command System (ICS), USAID supports Viet Nam's efforts to continuously improve response and co-ordination systems to more effectively respond to all kinds of incidents and disasters.

"The ICS training program will be an important step towards helping Viet Nam address disaster risks brought about by a changing climate," said Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia, Jason Foley, who is visiting Viet Nam from Washington.

"The US believes that adoption and localisation of the internationally-proven ICS system will both strengthen coordination systems and better prepare Viet Nam to work more closely with its ASEAN partners on disaster response." 

VNS