The Inter-American Defense Board, in compliance with the mandates of the OAS, presented the Cooperation Mechanism in Cases of Disasters (MECODE-CMDA) to the Commission on Hemispheric Security (CSH) during the ordinary session held on May 21 in the Hall Liberator Simón Bolívar of the main building of the OAS.
At the beginning of the presentation, the Director General of the IADB Secretariat, Major-Brigadeiro do Ar Flávio Luiz de Oliveira Pinto, expressed the importance of MECODE-CMDA, a mechanism that is being developed by the IADB and that will allow the coordination of the International Humanitarian Assistance in the Hemisphere. Next, Colonel Orlando Ugaz, Head of the Disaster Cooperation Division of the IADB, explained MECODE-CMDA and the progress in planning the MECODEX-CMDA 2024 Exercise, to be held in the Republic of Peru on May 31, June 3 and 4, highlighting that the IADB, in accordance with the powers granted by the Council of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CMDA), acts as Permanent Secretariat of MECODE. The final objective is to have an agile, reliable and efficient information exchange system, which allows international collaboration between countries and existing organizations for the benefit of the population of countries affected by disasters.
For his part, Minister Tommy Tataje, of the Permanent Representation of Peru to the OAS, highlighted the importance of a rapid and coordinated response that allows the flow of information regarding International Humanitarian Assistance, and thanked the country for its trust in hosting the International Humanitarian Assistance Exercise “MECODEX-CMDA 2024”. Mr. Giovanni Snidle, in his capacity as President of the OAS Hemispheric Security Commission, expressed the importance of this mechanism that allows for joining efforts between the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas and the Organization of American States through the Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), recognizing the importance of the mandate received by the IADB in the development of the mechanism.
