It'd only be a disaster if we met them if our world leaders had watched one too many alien invasion movies. Any civilisation old enough to have created the technology to travel across Universe will have evolved waaay past pointless wars and maybe even weapons of any kind. If they hadn't they would've destroyed themselves long before reaching the point of technology they're at. I.E.: Us in the near future.
But as to the question; yes, of course. Be it a human-like species, or a microscopic Germ - there's definitely some form of life on some other planet somewhere.