Panel discussions at the 2016 Asian Business Forum on Risk Reduction and Resilience Building in Bangkok.

Over 200 business leaders, government representatives and disaster risk reduction experts convened at the Asian Business Forum on Risk Reduction and Resilience Building in Bangkok from 21–22 April to identify solutions to protect financial assets from the increasing disaster risks.

The Forum highlighted the role of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) as an integral part of the economic landscape in the Asia Pacific region and the need to engage these businesses in risk reduction efforts.

The forum also stressed the importance of better understanding the drivers, needs and specific challenges of the private sector in engaging in risk reduction and communicating and collaborating with them in overall efforts for disaster risk reduction.

The forum discussed various topics relevant to business resilience ranging from business continuity, community resilience, and risk financing to tourism sector resilience. The discussion was also supplemented by global perspectives provided by governments and development partners from other key regions engaged in private sector engagement in disaster risk reduction.

The event took on added importance as an opportunity for stocktaking amongst policymakers, governments, businesses and development partners almost exactly one year following the agreement of the Sendai Framework for DRR (2015-2030).

The forum was jointly organized by Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) and The Asia Foundation.

Sources available online

The speeches and presentations delivered at the forum are available on the Asia Business Forum Website.

ADPC developed a short video clip that was presented at the forum to introduce our ongoing regional project, supported by ADB and GIZ. The video is available by clicking on this link.

Interviews with participants of the Asian Business Forum discussing the importance of private sector resilience and other topics available on the ADPC Youtube Channel.

The forum report will be shared upon completion.