Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang speaks at the press conference. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - About 700 Vietnamese citizens in Myanmar are staying in temporarily safe areas and information about many others is now being verified in the context of the complicated security situation in some northern states of the country, said Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang on November 23.

In reply to reporters' question regarding protection measures for Vietnamese citizens in Myanmar at the ministry’s regular press conference in Hanoi, Hang stated that after receiving information about the situation in late October, the Foreign Ministry immediately directed the Vietnamese Embassy in Myanmar to work with Myanmar authorities to request the Myanmar side to ensure safety and basic living conditions for Vietnamese citizens as well as facilitate their movement out of fighting areas.

The ministry and Vietnamese representative agencies in Myanmar and China have also coordinated closely and shared information with representative agencies of countries having citizens in this region, and asked Chinese authorities to support Vietnam in implementing citizen protection work.

The ministry is continuing to collaborate with domestic and foreign agencies to implement measures to ensure safety of Vietnamese citizens and implement plans to evacuate citizens as soon as possible, she affirmed.

She added that the ministry will continue to closely monitor the situation, keep in touch with Vietnamese citizens in refugee areas, and stay prepared to deploy necessary protection measures to bring citizens home safely.