Red Cross societies from Belarus, Norway, Lithuania sign cooperation agreement

           The Vitebsk regional Office of the Belarusian Red Cross Society, the Red Cross Office of the Norwegian county of Hedmark, and the Red Cross Office of the Visaginas Municipality of Lithuania signed a trilateral cooperation agreement, BelTA reports. Representatives of the regional offices of the Red Cross societies of Belarus, Norway, and Lithuania met at the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee on 11 November to discuss a plan of cooperation and sign a trilateral cooperation agreement for three years. The signing was preceded by months of work to indentify the needs of vulnerable groups of population in each of the three regions. A questionnaire survey carried out in Belarus’ Vitebsk Oblast revealed that the most pressing problems are: a big number of elderly citizens living alone in rural areas, shortage of labor force, unequal access to services in urban and rural areas, and a law level of cooperation between communities and local government authorities in some districts. Similar problems were detected in Norway and Lithuania. The Red Cross societies agreed to cooperate in three main areas, such as volunteer work, medical and social programs for vulnerable groups, and emergencies management.