General Ahmed Rizk, Director-General of the Palestinian Civil Defence, and General Fraj Al-Louati, Director-General of the Tunisian Civil Protection met in Ramallah on 6 February 2012 and signed an important cooperation agreement in the field of disaster risk reduction and civil protection.

The meeting in Ramallah was hosted by the Palestinian Minister of Interior, Dr. Said Abu Ali, and was also attended by the Deputy Palestinian Ambassador to Tunisia, the Assistant Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority and the Tunisian Ambassador in Ramallah.

In his opening speech, Dr. Abu Ali highlighted the importance for the Palestinian Authority of this cooperation agreement which establishes the key principles of mutual civil protection cooperation among two countries. He stressed that similar agreements should be concluded also for other sectors of the Palestinian-Tunisian cooperation. "Despite the critical situations of both our countries – he said – we want to reaffirm the necessity of trans-national cooperation for reinforcing the safety of our people and protecting them from all sort of risks".

General Al-Louati expressed sincere greetings from the Tunisian President, Prime Minister, and Minister of Interior to the Palestinian Authorities and stressed the long standing friendship and collaboration among the two countries. He added that the signature of this agreement marks an important milestone for the two national civil protection systems which are being upgraded to reach the same level of effectiveness than the ones of more developed nations.

The signed agreement concerns bilateral technical cooperation in civil protection and disaster prevention, opens the way to increased partnership building in disaster risk reduction and prepare the ground for enhanced mutual relations and facilitation of provision of assistance in case of disasters or serious accidents.

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