The Chief Executive Officer of Singapore’s Thakral Corporation Rikhi Thakral was awarded the Friendship Medal for his contribution to social welfare and charity activities in Vietnam .

On behalf of the Vietnamese Government, Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Welfare Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan handed over the award at a ceremony in Hanoi on April 4.

The corporation began its charity activities in Vietnam since 2000 through assisting flood victims. The total money that the corporation and Rikhi Thakral donated to Vietnamese children and flood victims was estimated at almost 3 billion VND by the end of last year.

Since 2008, the corporation in cooperation with the Luu Hung Phat Vietnam Joint Stock Company (a business partner of the group) has carried out stable and systematic assistance activities under a cooperative agreement on charity activities promotion signed between the group and the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Welfare.

This year, Thakral committed around 1 billion VND to disadvantage children and people in Vietnam . Of which, more than 300 million VND is intended for charity activities through the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Welfare, the remaining sum of money will be used for other assistance activities.

The corporation also affirmed its charity plan until 2014 through the cooperative agreements signed with the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Welfare, the Vietnam Study Promotion Association and the Ho Chi Minh City ’s authorities with total budget at about 6.2 billion VND./.