(VOV) – If enterprises have plans to deal with natural disasters and forecast possible risks, this will help maintain business production, mitigate the impacts of natural disasters and maintain economic stability.

This was said on Wednesday in Hanoi at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation workshop on maintaining business production for enterprises after natural disasters. This was a joint initiative of Australia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan approved by APEC's Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG) and an important activity in the cooperation framework of APEC in 2013. Nguyen Xuan Dieu, Deputy Head of the General Department of Irrigation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: "In order to implement its industrialization and modernization strategy, the Vietnamese Government has created the best possible conditions for enterprises to develop, especially for the purpose of sustainable development. The draft law on natural disaster prevention has been submitted to the National Assembly for approval. The draft law  encourages and creates favorable conditions for enterprises to join this effort. The workshop is a good opportunity to build a policy mechanism and action plan to help enterprises mitigate the impacts of natural disasters for sustainable development in Vietnam".

After the 1^st workshop in Singapore last year, at this event the participants focused on drafting an APEC action plan for maintaining business production. The workshop is one of many important activities in Vietnam this year that reflect Vietnam’s active contribution to APEC in the role of co-chair of the EPWG in the 2012-2013 term.