Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines cooperate to bring Vietnamese citizens in Ukraine back to Việt Nam

March 11, 2022 - 17:00

On March 10, at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines Corporation (Vietnam Airlines) officially signed a cooperation agreement to support the transportation of Vietnamese citizens and their families to return home from the war zone in Ukraine, witnessed by leaders of the Government Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam.

On March 10, at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines Corporation (Vietnam Airlines) officially signed a cooperation agreement to support the transportation of Vietnamese citizens and their families to return home from the war zone in Ukraine, witnessed by leaders of the Government Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam.

Responding to the Government's policy and the Prime Minister's appeal to organise flights to remove Vietnamese citizens from dangerous areas in Ukraine, Sun Group has decided to coordinate with Vietnam Airlines to implement the flights to help bring Vietnamese citizens and their families to Ukraine home.

Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines will sign a contract for transportation and coordinate to organise safe, fast and effective flights to bring Vietnamese citizens in Ukraine (now moved to Poland and Romania) to Việt Nam under the authorities' guidance.

All costs of the flights will be sponsored by Sun Group with the most preferential prices provided by Vietnam Airlines. Vietnamese citizens and their families in Ukraine, intending to repatriate, will be taken to Việt Nam completely free of charge.

The first flight is scheduled to take off from Noi Bai airport on March 12 to Warsaw (Poland) to pick up Vietnamese from Ukraine and return on March 13.

Pham Quang Hieu, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, said: "So far, our Party and State have always paid attention to and effectively implemented to protect the rights and benefits of Vietnamese citizens and legal entities abroad, affirmed that the tasks related to oversea Vietnamese are an integral part of the Vietnamese community in the domestic."

"The business community's participation in the Government in the task of helping and protecting our compatriots abroad demonstrates the noble spirit of our country's solidarity, creating an important resource to protect timely, promptly, and effectively, especially in case of major crises affecting the lives of thousands of people like in Ukraine today."

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dang Minh Truong - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sun Group, said: "For Sun Group, we always put the interests of the country and social responsibility first. For more than two years, we have always accompanied the Government and localities to prevent and remedy the consequences of the pandemic, actively participating in the Government's Vaccine Passport program."

"Today, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the close cooperation with Vietnam Airlines, we feel honoured and ready when we have the opportunity to join hands with the Government, the State, and other enterprises in Việt Nam to take our overseas compatriots from Ukraine's war zones to return home."

Dang Ngoc Hoa - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Airlines, said: "Based on the success of the first flight, today, we are very pleased to cooperate with Sun Group to continue organising other flights take our citizens in Ukraine back to ensure their lives and property as well as to implement the appropriate citizen protection policy of the Party and Government."

"We assert that with Sun Group's strong potential and Vietnam Airlines' transportation capacity, this signing ceremony is a commitment to the companionship of enterprises, always taking responsibility and mission for our compatriots and our country."

As one of the leading economic groups in Việt Nam, Sun Group is always a pioneer in joining hands and accompanying the Government to fulfil its responsibility to care for and help the people across the country and the overseas Vietnamese community to overcome difficulties and tribulations caused by epidemics and wars, etc.

During more than two years of the pandemic, Sun Group has welcomed more than 230 rescue flights, taking the Vietnamese compatriots and foreign experts back home from the centres of the pandemic around the world through Van Don International Airport, and also contributed and supported thousands of billions of Vietnamese Dongs for pandemic prevention and control in the country.

The help included: supporting the Government's vaccine fund, the local pandemic prevention, and control fund; constructing field hospitals and installing ICUs in Da Nang, Hai Duong, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Ha Tinh; supporting medical equipment, anti-epidemic bio-products for hospitals in many provinces; and sponsoring food for the poor and disadvantaged households in many provinces and cities across the country.

A representative of Sun Group said that the group was willing to continue sharing responsibility with the country and spreading compatriots' sentiment by sponsoring 10 flights to bring Vietnamese citizens and their families back from Ukraine, minimising risks and loss of life and health caused by the armed conflict.

As the national airline of Việt Nam, since its establishment, Vietnam Airlines has pioneered and taken part in many major government campaigns such as bringing hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese citizens from more than 30 countries and the territory to return home in the context of the pandemic.

Other community work has included establishing an air bridge to evacuate Vietnamese workers in Libya in 2011 and 2014; supporting Vietnamese citizens to return home during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan; taking Vietnamese passengers out of Europe due to volcanic eruption in 2010; rescuing passengers stuck in Thailand due to political crisis in 2008; and transporting Vietnamese citizens back from the Middle East in the years 2005-2007. On March 8, the first flight carrying citizens out of Ukraine landed safely in the Vietnamese capital.

Previously, on January 5, Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines Corporation (Vietnam Airlines) signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement for the period 2022-2023. The event saw two significant brands join hands to implement emergency rescue flights from the Ukrainian war zone, which not only eases the anxiety of the overseas compatriots in difficulty in Ukraine, helping them to be repatriated but also contributes to sharing responsibility with the country, spreading the beautiful image of Vietnamese solidarity.

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