IRNA Signs Co-op Agreement With Int’l Committee Of Red Cross

Tehran, Feb 1, IRNA – Managing Director of IRNA Mohammad Khoddadi and head of Tehran Regional Office of International Committee of Red Cross Olivier Martin signed a cooperation agreement here on Thursday. The cultural and educational agreement with an axis of international humanitarian rights includes getting acquainted with the seven fundamentals of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Committees and increasing the public awareness about them through the mass media. Increasing the public awareness about the humanitarian international fundamentals of the Red Cross, sponsoring courses on international humanitarian rights, and supporting the media folks during armed engagement with a priority for IRNA reporters and editors of various IRNA services are the other axes of this agreement. When signing the agreement, Khoddadi told Martin, “I am happy to be present at a place which I believe is sacred, because there are people here whose main concern is assisting the people who suffer from different types of disasters and pains.” Khoddadi said that IRNA, too, as an influential media in reflecting the humanitarian events, shares the concerns of the relief and rescue organizations, in various natural disaster and those created due to human factor. “Just as we wish to be benefited from God’s blessings, we are responsible to present those blessings to the others in need and if we will not perform that task it is us that should be blamed for it,” he said The head of the International Red Cross Committee Tehran Office, too, said he was very glad that the agreement with IRNA was signed. “It enables us officially both to reflect our humanitarian activities and to increase the public awareness about how to offer more effective services to the people at times of emergencies,” he said. Martin said that IRNA is the most important Iranian media, adding, “We have been trying to sign an official agreement with IRNA ever since the beginning of 2014, because the influence of this media in information transmitting and in offering of humanitarian education in Iran is very significant.” IRNA’s cooperation with the Red Cross International Committee has been pursued for many years, in the framework of offering educational course on such issues as detonating mines and explosives left from war eras, offering international humanitarian rights workshops, and journalism during the armed engagements, but with signing of this cooperation agreement the two sides’ cooperation finds a much vaster dimension./end