Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong (R) and UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific Karin Hulshof (Source: voh.com.vn)
HCM City (VNA) – Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong has highlighted the support of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for child care and protection in the city.
At a reception for Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific in HCM City on August 31, the official said thanks to the UNICEF-initiated Children Friends Project, child care and protection in the locality has been improved significantly, with the number of children in extremely difficult circumstances dropping.
He also applauded the fund’s child friendly city initiative which aims to raise living standards for children and residents in cities, saying that HCMM City will devise a specific cooperation programme and instruct relevant departments to realise the initiative.
The mayor also hailed UNICEF’s role and assistance in developing policies, reforming laws, improving social services and especially building a legal framework concerning children in Vietnam.
Karin Hulshof praised HCM City’s outstanding developments over the past time, which have helped upgrade the quality of life of local people and children in particular.
She urged the city to pay more attention to young people, helping them access good services and living standards, as they will greatly contribute to local development in the coming time.
The guest noted her hope that HCM City will help UNICEF speed up the implementation of projects on collecting information on the city’s population structure, immigration and budget, which will serve as the basis for the fund to analyse difficulties faced by the city.
UNICEF will also closely coordinate with other UN agencies to provide the best support for local children, she promised.-VNA
