Delegates at the seminar (Photo: VNA)

The projects are mainly in education, addressing natural disaster and war aftermath, clearance of unexploded ordnance and responding to COVID-19.

The information was released during a seminar held in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri, on March 11 to mark the 25th anniversary of Vietnam – Ireland diplomatic relations (April 5) and the 15th anniversary of cooperation between the central province and Ireland.

According to information at the seminar, from 2012 to 2020, the Irish Government also granted more than VND52 billion in non-refundable aid to extremely disadvantaged communes under Programme 135. Irish President Michael Daniel Higgins visited Quang Tri on his state visit to Vietnam in November 2016. Also during this visit, the Chairman of the Quang Tri People’s Committee Nguyen DucChinh and Irish Foreign Minister Charles Flanagan signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in which the two sides agreed to strengthen and deepen cooperation.

Emphasizing the close and cooperative relationship between the two countries in general, as well as between Quang Tri province and Ireland in particular, Hoang Nam, Vice Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee, emphasized that since the establishment of the Irish Embassy in Hanoi in 2005, the Irish Government has paid attention and supported the implementation of humanitarian programs and projects in all fields in Quang Tri province. “The supports of practical significance have been contributing to improving people's lives, and promoting local socio-economic development,” he said, adding that he hoped the close cooperative relationship between Quang Tri province and Ireland in the coming time would become deeper, along with the friendship between the people of the two countries in general, and that the people of Quang Tri and Ireland in particular would be increasingly stable and developed.

On this occasion, the provincial cultural and cinema centre has been being lit up with green lights to celebrate the Irish National Day. The lighting is expected to bring local people closer to Ireland./.

Compiled by BTA