Humanitarian cooperation

Italy thanks Belarus for humanitarian cooperation

MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) – Italy is grateful to Belarus for productive humanitarian cooperation, Italy’s Deputy Ambassador to Belarus Paolo Tonini said at a function held in the House of Friendship on 7 February to mark the 30th anniversary of the Belarusian Charity and Health Foundation, BelTA has learned.

The diplomat said that Italy appreciates Belarus’ position on continuing humanitarian cooperation with the country. In his words, Italy annually welcomes about 10,000 Belarusian children on recuperation holiday.

“We value our cooperation with Belarus. This is a sign of big Belarusian-Italian friendship. The main thing is to build a bridge of peace and friendship between the nations. Thanks to the public organizations such as the Belarusian Charity and Health Foundation, we have built this bridge together with Italian partners,” said Paolo Tonini.

The Italian deputy ambassador expressed confidence that such humanitarian contacts would continue expanding for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries.

Italy's Deputy Ambassador to Belarus Paolo Tonini and Chairperson of the Belarusian Charity and Health Foundation Valentina Kolosova

According to Chairperson of the Belarusian Charity and Health Foundation Valentina Kolosova, who has been heading this public organization for 30 years, emphasized that charity is a good basis for the development of humanitarian cooperation between the countries. She recalled the first years of establishing contacts with Italian partners in 1989. Since then, thanks to the activities of the foundation, including in collaboration with Italian counterparts, a large number of humanitarian projects have been implemented. The projects were mainly related to providing help to orphanages, disabled people and victims of the Chernobyl NPP accident. 

A lot has been done together with the Italian partners (in particular, the National Confederation of Misericordia) to help the orphanages in Stankovo, Chekhovshchina, and many other institutions. “All good deeds are accomplished in cooperation. As life shows, joint work brings excellent results,” said Valentina Kolosova.

Lyudmila Ben, representative of the Department for Humanitarian Activities under the Belarus President’s Property Management Directorate, expressed gratitude to the Belarusian Charity and Health Foundation. She stressed the importance of charity activities carried out by this public organization together with Italian partners.

The event was attended by representatives of various Italian public organizations and charity foundations.