Bangladesh and UNDP signed a deal worth S50.75 million on Thursday to extend the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) for another five years.

The new phase of the

CDMP - a joint initiative of the government and UNDP supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the European Union and the Government of Sweden - is an expansion and scaling up of the first phase, which institu-

tionalised risk reduction approaches through pilot initiatives.

M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, secretary, Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance, Ahmed Hossain Khan, additional secretary, Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, and Stefan Priesner, country director, United Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh, signed the deal on behalf of their respective parties, says a press release.

The second phase will follow a multi-hazard approach to disasters - including climate change risk management, which also sustains the paradigm shift from a focus on post-disaster response to a stronger emphasis on prevention and reducing risks and vulnerabilities.

Chris Austin, country representative, DFID, Stefan Frowein, head of the Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh, and Swedish Ambassador Britt F Hagstrdm were also present on the occasion.