By Liu Hao, deputy head of Int’l cooperation, RCSC "Chinese government highly appreciates and will continue its support to the humanitarian work of the Red Cross." said Mr. Liu Jieyi, Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs to Mr. Bekele Galeta, Secretary General of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on Feb. 18, 2009. Beijing is the first stop of Mr. Galeta's visit to Asia. It is also his first visit to China since taking office July 2008. As the CEO of the world’s largest humanitarian organization, Mr. Galeta advocates vigorously "humanitarian diplomacy". He thanked the Chinese Government for giving Chinese Red Cross a good position to participate in international development cooperation. He said that Chinese government's generous support to cover the National Society's core budget is a good gesture of recognition of the privileged partnership that Red Cross enjoys with the authority. Another important privilege he mentioned is the authorization that Chinese Red Cross has to carry out fundraising independently. "This right to launch domestic appeal for international needs is essential." Mr. Galeta told Mme. Jiang Yiman, Executive Vice President of Chinese Red Cross. "If you look at the history, you will see all regions in the world have experienced ups and downs." Mr. Galeta shared his views with colleagues of Chinese Red Cross. "China's development is supported by the world resources, and it is time China to give back and help the less developed parts of the world such as Africa." "Chinese Red Cross is a strong and developed National Society. Its international work has a huge potential to grow." There is an interesting article about Bekele Galeta's background named"the Amazing story of Bekele Geleta" by Louisa Taylor of the Ottawa Citizen. She wrote: "To get an idea of the burden weighing on Bekele Geleta, consider the heartbreaking inventory of human disaster around the world right now, all the people struggling to survive and regroup and rebuild after earthquakes, cyclones, famine, cholera and so on. It‘s his job to get help to them, all at once...The Geneva secretariat has 500 employees and works with thousands of staff and millions of volunteers in the federation’s 186 national Red Cross Societies, each of which has its own culture, interests and agenda. Getting the federation’s members pulling in the same direction requires strength and finesse. It demands diplomacy and decisiveness, a manner that is equally at ease in the corridors of European palaces or dusty, crowded emergency camps and the ability to withstand punishing travel...He doesn’t just oversee the teams that put tents and tarps and food parcels into the hands of desperate people; he must persuade diverse — often competing — groups to work efficiently together, he must get them the tools they need when they need them, and he must convince global power brokers to pay attention and pay up." It seems that his efforts are working in China. The leadership of Chinese Red Cross is convinced that its international work can be improved. But the process needs to be carefully planned, and it will have implications on the overall development of the Chinese Red Cross, including its human resources, fundraising capacity, and public image. "It is a process that every growing National Society has to experience. It is a change for good. And the Federation Secretariat will give full support to Chinese Red Cross." Mr. Galeta assures Chinese Red Cross. He recommends that the starting point be increased international exposure through staff exchange, twinning relationship, etc. Mme. Jiang fully agrees with him.
From February 18 to 20, accompanied by Mme. Jiang Yiman, executive vice president of.the Chinese Red Cross, Mr. Galeta visited Dujiangyan, Mianzhu and other most affected places in Wenchuan earthquak in Sichuan. During his visit, Mr Galeta went to the reconstruction site, the affected farmers home, shift room schools and township hospitals in the ground to assess the situation of post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.
Mr Galeta said that to support Red Cross Society of China is the responsibility of the Federation. The relief funds raised by Federation are mostly coming from the majority of public, such as citizens, students and other sectors of the general public, so that the Federation needs to feedback the use of contributions to the international community in ensuring the credibility of the Red Cross. He also hoped that the Chinese Red Cross to continue doing its best in reconstruction of Sichuan earthquake-stricken areas.
In Deyang city, the Federation is supporting a total of more than 17,500 households’ reconstruction, amounting 350 million yuan. Mr Galeta and Mme. Jiang also witnessed the signing of relating agreements for post-disaster recovery. Meanwhile, the Federation will have to match a number of medium and long-term projects of rural community-based people's livelihood, such as drinking water and lavatories and health care etc,.
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