During a limited Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Jokowi said the global forum would also be an opportunity to promote tourism as it would be held in Bali.

“Around 5,000 to 7,000 people from 193 countries are expected to participate in the event. We should take advantage of this world-scale forum [to] assert Indonesia’s role in global efforts on disaster risk reduction and promote Indonesian tourism,” Jokowi said.

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Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy said tourism promotion was part of the country’s economic recovery plan after the COVID-19 pandemic, which Indonesia has declared as a non-natural national disaster.

“We expect the pandemic will be nearing its end when the event takes place, so we can immediately work to restore the economy through the tourism sector. Therefore, we chose Bali,” Muhadjir said.

“Besides, the location is close to earthquake-hit Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara so we can take participants there to observe directly.”

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Doni Monardo said participants would discuss the latest trends, review progress and share best practices on disaster risk reduction during the five-day event. The forum will also be an occasion to improve coordination between global stakeholders.

“We will also discuss efforts to boost the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030,” Doni said.

The framework outlines seven global targets to be achieved by 2030, including the reduction of global disaster mortality and post-disaster economic losses in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP).

The Army general said Indonesia had submitted a potential theme for the event as well as proposed a US$5.9 billion budget for the forum.

Doni went on to say that it was an honor for Indonesia to become the second country to host the biennial convention after Mexico. Last year, the sixth edition of the forum took place in the UNISDR’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

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He added Indonesia was the perfect place to host such an event because the country was surrounded by three tectonic plates and sat on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

“We also have a high risk of land and forest fire during the dry season as well as heavy rains as the effect of La Niña. We have learned [from these disasters], while some countries have also followed our steps [in disaster mitigation,” said Doni.

According to the World Bank, Indonesia is among 35 countries with high disaster risk. Last year, the country endured 2,564 disasters ranging from earthquakes, tsunamis and floods, which killed 3,300 people, caused more than 1,400 to go missing and injured 21,000 others.