Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General of IFRC has spoken highly of the collaboration between his organisation and Vietnam at a recent meeting with Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the UN, World Trade Organisation and other international organisations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai (second, right), head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission
to the UN, and Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General of the International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, at their meeting

Chapagain lauded the active engagement of the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRCS) in mobilising resources and support from international partners, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), for COVID-19 prevention and control as well as for the alleviation of natural disaster aftermath.

The IFRC has, in turn, actively called for international donors’ assistance for Vietnam, he said.

He took the occasion to thank the Vietnamese Government for backing the IFRC’s cooperation with the VRCS and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), expressing his hope for further support in the time to come.

The official pledged to reinforce the IFRC -VRCS collaboration and proposed the Vietnamese Government to facilitate the IFRC in expanding its operations in Vietnam.

For her part, Mai thanked the organisation for its assistance to Vietnam, particularly in COVID-19 control and for flood victims in central Vietnam.

The diplomat affirmed that the Vietnamese Government supports joint work between the IFRC and VRCS as well as between the IFRC and ASEAN.

Welcoming the IFRC’s plan to expand activities in Vietnam, Mai said she will work with relevant agencies to speed up related procedures.

She requested the organisation to continue its mobilisation of technical support and resources from its partners to help Vietnamese people via the VRCS, particularly in risk management, natural disasters and climate change response, injury prevention, first aid, and evacuation.

Mai also asked for the IFRC’s support for the VRCS’s capacity building and participation in regional and international cooperation.

Founded in 1919, the Geneva-based IFRC now consists of 192 national red cross and red crescent societies.