DUSHANBE, January 19, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- On Tuesday January 18, Amirsho Miraliyev, the first deputy speaker of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament), met here with Mr. Ives Arnoldi, Head of the Regional Delegation of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) for Central Asia, and Ms. Alma Ahmadipour, Head of the IRCS Mission in Tajikistan.

Muhammadato Sultonov, a spokesman for the Majlisi Namoyandagon, says Miraliyev expressed gratitude to the ICRC for humanitarian aid having been provided to Tajikistan since 1991 and noted that Tajikistan was ready for further expansion of cooperation with the ICRC.

Mr. Arnoldi, for his part, noted that the ICRC now worked in Tajikistan in three main areas: cooperation with the government; demining operation; and search for persons being sought by their.

The ICRC representatives also noted that the next meeting of heads of the ICRC Delegations in Central Asia’s nations would take place in Dushanbe in March this year, Sultonov said. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance.  It also endeavors to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.

In Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the ICRC seeks to contribute to fostering awareness and an environment that is conducive to the respect for the lives and dignity of those who may, one day, be adversely affected by armed conflict and other situations of internal violence.  To this end it promotes international humanitarian norms with political authorities and ministries concerned at all levels, as well as regional organizations of which Central Asian States are members, armed forces, law enforcement bodies, media, civil society organizations, academic audience, secondary schools and others.