Context: Recently, UK has been confirmed as the first co-chair of the governing council of India-led global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
Current Scenario

• The Governing Council is the highest policy-making body of the CDRI. It is co-chaired by India and a representative of another national government nominated by rotation every two years.
• "The UK is already working closely with India as a joint force for good on climate change.This India-led CDRI will bring about a transformation in how infrastructure is designed, constructed, operated and maintained. 
• The UK will provide "technical advice and expertise to help set up and build the Secretariat and advance the objectives of the Coalition."
• The initial focus will be on disaster and climate risk analysis and governance of infrastructure.
• "Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the minister participated remotely over video link from the UK. and UK will also host COP26 in Glasgow in November 2020.

About CDRI

• It was launched by India at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York,US in 2019.
• It is an international knowledge and capacity development platform where countries can collaborate to make their existing and new infrastructure strong enough to withstand natural disasters.
• It aims to rapidly expand the development of resilient infrastructure and retrofit existing infrastructure for resilience, and to enable a measurable reduction in infrastructure losses.
• As of March 2020, the CDRI comprises 15 member countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bhutan, Fiji, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Mauritius, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom and United States.
• The National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA),New Delhi is operating as the interim secretariat of CDRI.

Benefits of this move

• The CDRI will serve as a platform where knowledge is generated and exchanged on different aspects of disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure. 
• It will bring together technical expertise from a multitude of stakeholders. In doing so, it will create a mechanism to assist countries to upgrade their capacities and practices, with regard to infrastructure development in accordance with their risk context and economic needs.
• This initiative will benefit all sections of society. Economically weaker sections of society, women and children, are the most vulnerable to the impacts of disasters and hence, will be benefitted from the improvement of knowledge and practice in creating disaster resilient infrastructure. 
• It will also benefit all areas with high disaster risk. In India, the north-eastern and Himalayan regions are prone to earthquakes, coastal areas to cyclones and tsunamis and central peninsular region to droughts.

Connection between CDRI and BRI

• CDRI is seen as India’s response to the Belt Road Initiative (BRI), China’s ongoing programme to recreate the ancient Silk Route trading links.
• China is building massive new land and maritime infrastructure in several countries.
• India and some other nations view this as an attempt by China to use its economic and military heft to usurp strategic assets in other countries.
• Unlike BRI, CDRI is not an attempt by India to create or fund infrastructure projects in other countries.