An International Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, from 25 to 27 May 2004. The Conference was co-organized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) Secretariat. The Conference was part of the preparatory process for the Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR II) to be held in Kobe-Hyogo, Japan, from 18 to 22 January 2005. More than 100 delegates from 18 countries and six (6) international organizations attended the Conference to further promote regional cooperation and collaboration in disaster reduction, and the integration of disaster reduction into development planning, policies and implementation. The Conference benefited from recommendations made by two regional conferences held in February and March 2004 : (1) the Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2004 held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from 4 to 6 February 2004; and(2) the Regional Consultation on Disaster Management held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 29 to 31 March 2004. The Conference also took into consideration the outcomes of two consultations held in early May 2004 : (1) the 9th Session of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction (IATF/DR) held in Geneva on 4 and 5 May 2004 ; and(2) the 1st Inter-Governmental Preparatory Committee Meeting for the WCDR II also held in Geneva on 6 and 7 May 2004. At the end of the Conference, the delegates issued the following declaration called “Beijing Declaration on the 2005 World Conference on Disaster Reduction”.