At the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC) and the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC). (Photo: VNA)

Accordingly, the two sides will support each other via humanitarian assistance in case of disasters, cooperate in international humanitarian aid, and work together to improve communities’ resilience to climate change.

They will hold healthcare training and experience sharing programmes, organise mutual visits and workshops to share experience in disaster prevention and response, and increase opinion exchanges between the VNRC and RCSC chapters of border provinces.

In addition, the two sides will encourage provincial chapters to hold exchanges, set up twin relations, sign cooperation agreements, and step up sharing experience in youth and voluntary activities.

Addressing the signing ceremony, VNRC President Bui Thi Hoa said that over the past years, the VNRC and RCSC have carried a number of bilateral cooperation activities and obtained important results. These include holding all-level mutual visits to learn experience from and support each other in case of disasters, coordinating in healthcare activities and disaster response in border provinces, providing training to improve Red Cross worker capacity, and help with sustainable forest development.

The VNRC called for the RCSC’s support for the COVID-19 combat, she went on, noting that the Chinese side has also helped the VNRC implement the projects on improving communities’ resilience such as those on promoting communities’ response capacity, equipping them with first aid skills, improving water and hygienic conditions, and carrying out climate change response measures.

RCSC Vice President Ping Wang, who is in Vietnam to attend the 11th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), expressed his hope that with the MoU signing, bilateral cooperation will develop more strongly in the time ahead.