Speaking at the meeting, chairman of Vietnam Red Cross Society Tran Ngoc Tang said that humankind has to face continuous natural disasters and epidemics that threaten people’s lives around the world. Cooperation is, therefore, an essential need for humankind to deal with those disasters and epidemics.

Tang also confirmed the 4 purposes of the meeting. They include planning a scheme to deal with epidemics in human with the cooperation of other national Red Cross societies , the national Red Crescent societies, governmental and non-governmental oganisations in Asia; promoting the planning of the scheme at national level; jointly holding training programmes which have been globally standardised; and establishing an information exchange network to prepare better for global epidemics.

The meeting also attracted the participation of the Deputy Minister of Health, Tran Chi Liem, ambassador to Vietnam, Michael Michalak, representatives from several NGOs, and hundreds of delegates from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and Nepal.

The meeting will last until September 16.