(Moscow, 24 November 2017): United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock today wrapped up his first official visit to the Russian Federation after meeting key Government officials including the Minister for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief Vladimir Puchkov, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and representatives from the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.

During his two days in Moscow, Mr. Lowcock paid a visit to the National Crisis Management Centre. “I was impressed with the breadth of the Russian Federation’s emergency management capacity, and I hope we can strengthen collaboration between OCHA and EMERCOM [Russia’s emergencies ministry], to the benefit of other countries across the world” he said.

Mr. Lowcock discussed scope for strengthening collaboration between the Government and OCHA on disaster response and readiness. He also discussed the humanitarian situations in Syria, Yemen and Ukraine and ways to strengthen collaboration to address these crises. He thanked Russia for their generous support to humanitarian action as well as its support to the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund.

For further information, please contact:

Russell Geekie, OCHA New York, geekie@un.org, Tel: +1 212 963 8340, Cell: +1 917 331 0393

Jens Laerke, OCHA Geneva, laerke@un.org, Tel.: +41 22 917 11 42, Cell: +41 79 472 9750