The Prime Minister, Dr. Rui Maria de Araújo, took part, on May 8th, in the commemoration of the Red Cross and Red Crescent World Day, at the headquarters of this organization, located at Bairro Formosa, in Díli.
The Minister of Social Solidarity, Isabel Amaral Guterres, delegations from the Red Cross’s International Committee and International Federation, local authorities, young people and volunteers from Red Cross Timor-Leste (RCTL) also attended the ceremony.
The Head of the Executive congratulated this humanitarian organization and praised the services provided by more than 2,000 volunteers from the RCTL, asking the Organization for greater involvement of the Timorese. To this end, he suggested that each of the volunteers invite a person to work in the organization. This way, and in the next birthday, we could double the number of volunteers and have about 4,000 volunteers.
The Prime Minister expressed his recognition for the support provided by the Red Cross to the Timorese, at the time of the Resistance, including the support given to himself, when he came out of the bushes. From the point of view of the State, the Head of the Executive has issued a challenge for Timor-Leste so that it should not to work only within the country, but also in other Nations.
Recently, the Government donated USD$ 500.000,00 in order to assist the victims and survivors of the earthquake that affected Nepal. Considering this example, the Prime Minister wants the RCTL to prepare the Timorese to volunteer actions in case of natural disasters, whether in the country or abroad and also wants to send Timorese doctors for humanitarian services, in addition to financial support.
Dr. Rui Maria de Araújo asked for the continuation of the Red Cross activities and asked the Minister of Social Solidarity to create a fixed support allowance to RCTL. The Prime Minister symbolically gave a personal donation to the RCTL. The Red Cross building, itself, was built partly with money from the Civil Society Support Fund of the Prime Minister’s Office.