A Vietnam Red Cross delegation led by its Vice President and SecretaryDoan Van Thai is attending the South East Asia Red Cross Red CrescentLeadership Meeting (SEA RCRC) in Singapore from March 24-26.

The event also draws representatives Red Cross societies from 10 otherSoutheast Asian countries as well as leaders of the International RedCross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committeeof the Red Cross (ICRC).

It aims to seek collaboration in mitigating and confronting the humanitarian challenges faced by the regional countries.

At the opening ceremony, Masagos Zulkifli, Senior Minister of State atSingapore’s Foreign Ministry, lauded the Red Cross Red CrescentMovement for being at the forefront of serving the vulnerable for morethan 150 years.

He urged the meeting to leveragethe common principles and operations shared within the Red CrossMovement, together with the cultural understanding of cooperation withinASEAN, to enhance SEA RCRC’s effectiveness in responding tohumanitarian crisis and serving the vulnerable.

Also on this occasion, the Singapore Red Cross launched HumanitarianLecture Series, which Masagos affirmed, will help grow the knowledge andunderstanding of humanitarian law and action in Singapore and theregion.

Bekele Geleta, Secretary Generalof the IFRC, delivered a public lecture on “Humanitarian Diplomacy inAction”, discussing the evolving global humanitarian diplomacy agendaand the opportunities it brings for the humanitarian community inSoutheast Asia.

He also spoke about the importance of creating aglobal dialogue with the younger generation using modern technologies,maintaining and growing auxiliary relations with governments as well asthe need to build and sharpen delivery capacity.-VNA