The event also draws representatives Red Cross societies from 10 other Southeast Asian countries as well as leaders of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of 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 at Singapore’s Foreign Ministry, lauded the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement for being at the forefront of serving the vulnerable for more than 150 years.
He urged the meeting to leverage the common principles and operations shared within the Red Cross Movement, together with the cultural understanding of cooperation within ASEAN, to enhance SEA RCRC’s effectiveness in responding to humanitarian crisis and serving the vulnerable.
Also on this occasion, the Singapore Red Cross launched Humanitarian Lecture Series, which Masagos affirmed, will help grow the knowledge and understanding of humanitarian law and action in Singapore and the region.
Bekele Geleta, Secretary General of the IFRC, delivered a public lecture on “Humanitarian Diplomacy in Action”, discussing the evolving global humanitarian diplomacy agenda and the opportunities it brings for the humanitarian community in Southeast Asia.
He also spoke about the importance of creating a global dialogue with the younger generation using modern technologies, maintaining and growing auxiliary relations with governments as well as the need to build and sharpen delivery capacity.
