Al Sada Affirms Qatar's Readiness to Face Disasters in Energy, Industry Sectors

Doha, September 20 (QNA) - HE Minister of Energy and Industry Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada said the State of Qatar has set programs and plans making the State highly prepared and ready to face emergencies and crises in the energy and industrial sectors. He stressed on the importance of crises management at the Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) symposium to discuss leadership and resilience in emergency management held on the sidelines of launch celebration of the university's new regionally focused executive master's degree in emergency and disaster management, with a focus on the Gulf region. HE the Minister of Energy and Industry referred to the State of Qatar's crisis management experience, when the neighboring countries suddenly and unjustly imposed a siege on the State. However, Qatar was able to commit to its oil and gas deliveries to its customers without any tardiness or default. He said Qatar's response was well recognized and showed Qatar's preparedness to successfully counter the siege, by activating the emergency programs and business continuity plans, especially in the fields of oil and gas. HE Al Sada said for the GU-Q to integrate this important subject to its students, supports the Qatar National Vision 2030 for achieving sustainable development for the country. The world is constantly facing different kinds of man-made emergencies and disasters such as the nuclear radiation caused by Chernobyl disaster, major oil spills, which calls for continuous development of new methodologies to combat and mitigate them, he said. The need to combat these disasters is becoming more important due to the higher frequency of disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and drought and have become more far-reaching, widespread and have adverse impact, HE Al Sada said. In order to combat these disasters, their impact and to protect and secure the societies' well-being, there must be plans to try to prevent their effects in the event of man-made disasters, he added. HE the Minister of Energy and Industry stressed on the importance of adequate preparedness to mitigate such risks. Such emergency and disaster management preparedness programs encourage critical thinking and innovates new educational and practical methods that work on facing a variety of the disasters' negative impact, which maybe be faced in all walks of life he added. In his keynote; HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr. Mohamed bin Saleh Al Sala underlined the importance of installing emergency and disaster management systems to safeguard all energy and industry assets. For Qatar, the energy sector represented by oil and gas and power generation is of great importance, especially the use of energy in desalination plants. The energy sector is the driving force of the Qatari economy and it contributes to the social prosperity of the country, he said. He went on saying that it is natural that Qatar seeks to ensure the safe and secure production of all these resources and access to customers and buyers around the world, so there are contingency plans with a commitment to priority ensuring this. It is not only about developing plans and programs to avoid disasters and their effects, but also to create a conscious culture that is based on the principle of "prevention better than cure", he added. HE Dr. Al Sada said that the State of Qatar gives emergency and disaster response programs a great deal of importance and encourages its large institutions to take initiatives to help them cope with all forms of crisis and to equip systems capable of dealing with such disasters in all areas of the energy sector such as offshore stations; gas processing plants; Refineries; Fertilizer and Chemical plants; oil and gas pipe lines; storage facilities; port facilities and jetties; Power generation plants; Water desalination plants etc. These operational areas are critical to our economic health and wellbeing. We have, not only to safe guard these assets but proactively be ready for any kind of emergency be it fire; gas leakage; or pollution such as oil spills," he added. HE Dr. Al Sada said that Qatar's participation in international organizations and conferences on those programs, especially with regard to the energy sector, reflects the State's attention to this matter and its belief in the importance of using and sharing of common experiences between countries. He stressed that Qatar's emergency response programs in the energy and industry sector cover all contingencies for emergencies and disasters and are designed to protect individuals, assets and the environment, adding that Qatar has taken all possible initiatives to achieve this. He pointed out that in order for those programs to be effective; there must be a broader culture of readiness in any institution to ensure the implementation and activation of those programs and plans on the ground and to work to avoid those disasters or effects from the beginning. He considered teaching those programs and ways to address emergencies is an urgent need to help develop capacities to address the complexities of crises. The symposium on emergency and disaster management was attended by a group of experts in this field, including Regional Director of Emergency and Security in Shell Qatar John Galt, Vice President and Joint Managing Director of ExxonMobil Qatar Dominic Genti, Assistant Undersecretary of the Cyber Security Sector in the Ministry of Transport and Communications Khaled Al Hashemi, Director of Emergency and Disaster Management Department at Georgetown University Dr. Tim Fraser. (QNA)