Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with representatives from the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRCS) on March 24 at the Government Headquarters.
At the working session. Photo: vov.vn

VRCS Chairman Nguyen Hai Duong informed the PM that the VRCS currently has nearly 17,000 grassroots-level societies with more than 8 million members and volunteer workers.

According to Duong, the society carries out initiatives in seven activity fields including emergency relief & humanitarian aid; healthcare; first aid; blood, tissue, human organ and corpse donation; information on missing-in-action veterans or disaster victims; disseminating humanitarian values; and preventing and responding to natural disasters.

The society has organized a dozen programmes such as ‘Tet (Lunar New Year) for the poor and Agent Orange victims,’ the ‘Bank of Cows’ project, and the ‘Each individual, organization aids a humanitarian address’ campaign, which have each yielded their own successes, Duong said.

Since July 2012, the society has mobilised 6.9 trillion VND (320 million USD) from domestic and foreign philanthropists, Duong added.

Duong confirmed the society has received substantial support from the Government and that the PM has issued a number of important documents forming a legal framework for the society to operate effectively in recent years.

One of projects benefiting from Government support is the provision of 49.3 billion VND (2.3 million USD) to implement the ‘Helping Agent Orange victims in the Central Highlands and Tay Ninh’ project from 2006-2010 and 2011-2015.

The government also provided 89 billion VND (4.1 million USD) for the VRCS to construct and purchase equipment for a staff-training centre and warehouse.

Addressing the meeting, the PM recognized the VRCS’s contributions to the nation’s development through practical activities over the past 69 years.

The Government leader asked the society to follow its outlined tasks in the Vietnam Red Cross Activities Law.

Source: VNA