The second African Arab Summit held in Sirte, Libya on 10th October 2010, adopted the resolution to establish a joint African – Arab Disaster Response Fund (AADRF) with the objective of assisting African and Arab countries affected by natural or man-made disasters.  It is in light of the Sirte resolution, that the Orientation Session for the study on African Arab Disaster Response Fund was held on 5th October 2015, at the premises of the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, Egypt.

Participants at the meeting were composed of staff members from the African Union Commission, the League of Arab States and the funding organization (BADEA), the Technical Assistance Fund for African countries, and two consultants who will carry out the feasibility study. The meeting was co-chaired by Ambassador Abdelhamid Bouzaher Head of the Permanent Delegation of the African Union to the League of Arab States, and Mr. Zeid Alsban the Director of Africa-Arab Co-operation at the League of Arab States Department . 

In his opening remarks Ambassador Bouzaher, welcomed all the participants to the meeting, and Expressed gratitude to (BADEA) for financing the study, he also emphasized the importance of the implementation of the Sirte resolution on the establishment of the Africa-Arab Disaster Response Fund (AADRF). In this regard, he expressed the importance of utilizing the concept note and the term of reference of the study, as a guideline that would assist in facilitating a comprehensive study, which will include the field of activities, legal Rules and Regulations, the administrative and financial structures. the sources of funding found in the AADRF. The AADRF will become the first joint disaster fund of its kind in the Arab and African region.  

Mr. Zeid Alsban the Director of Africa-Arab Co-operation Department at the League of Arab States, also welcomed all the participants, he reiterated the importance of combating disasters in the two regions and he also stressed the necessity of finding creative solutions, such as early disaster warning systems.  
 
The representative from BADEA expressed his appreciation to the League of Arab States for hosting this meeting.  He emphasized the readiness of BADEA to assist the two organizations in order to implement the Africa- Arab partnership project such as the AADRF.  

In light of the questions and explanations delivered by the two experts during the extensive deliberation the Orientation Session agreed to have another meeting on the first week of November in order to clarify the Structure, the field of activities, and the working Methodology of the AADRF.