In July 2005, the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) held its fourth summit of heads of state or government in Panama City. One of the primary topics from that meeting was improving regional efforts to cooperate in disaster management.
In the resulting 'Declaration of Panama', ACS member states acknowledged the vulnerability of their countries to disasters and reaffirmed the importance of regional and international cooperation to national and regional bodies dedicated to the prevention and mitigation of disasters. They urged member states to ratify the ACS Agreement for Regional Cooperation in the Area of Natural Disasters, which is not yet in force. They also welcomed the establishment of a dedicated 'Hurricane Relief Fund' within the Caribbean Development Bank and the adoption of the Declaration of Kobe concerning disaster prevention and preparedness during the Second World Conference for Disaster Reduction in January 2005. For more information, please visit http://www.acs-aec.org/.