A cooperation agreement between Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines was signed on Thursday afternoon at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ha Noi.

Representatives of Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines entered into a cooperation agreement to help bring Vietnamese citizens home from Ukraine.

Under the agreement, the two sides will work together to arrange flights in a safe, fast and efficient manner to bring home Vietnamese citizens living in war-ravaged areas in Ukraine with the support of local authorities. The citizens who registered to return home on the repatriation flights are evacuees from Ukraine to Romania via Moldova.

These repatriation flights which are offered at preferential prices by Vietnam Airlines will be fully funded by Sun Group. Any Vietnamese citizens who want to flee from war areas in Ukraine will be transported to Viet Nam for free.

Repatriation flights are expected to be conducted by Vietnam Airlines until no one wants them. After the agreement between Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines, the first flight repatriating Vietnamese citizens from Ukraine is set to take off from Ha Noi’s Noi Bai Airport on March 12, and it is scheduled to depart from Warsaw, Poland on March 13.

Mr. Pham Quang Hieu, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs praised Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines for their meaningful support to assist the Vietnamese people and their families evacuating from Ukraine. Mr Hieu remarked that the active involvement of domestic businesses in joining efforts with Viet Nam’s national Government to help and protect Vietnamese compatriots living abroad shows solidarity, thereby creating an important resource to carry out evacuations of stranded citizens abroad in a quick and effective manner, especially major crises occur such as the conflict in Ukraine which has dramatically affected the lives of thousands of people.

“With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the close cooperation of Vietnam Airlines, we feel honoured and proud to join efforts with the national government and other domestic businesses to evacuate Vietnamese citizens from Ukraine”, Mr Dang Minh Truong, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sun Group said.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Hoa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Airlines said that Sun Group and Vietnam Airlines have made a commitment to show their willingness to work with the national government to help and protect Vietnamese compatriots living abroad in their signed cooperation agreement.

A Vietnam Airlines flight carrying 287 Vietnamese people, including 71 children under 12, leaving Ukraine landed at Ha Noi’s Noi Bai Aiport on March 8.

Departing from the Romanian capital city of Bucharest, the first repatriation flight was arranged and fully funded by the Government of Viet Nam to bring home Vietnamese living in war-ravaged areas in Ukraine. They were welcomed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Quang Hieu and representatives from the Vietnam Fatherland Front and concerned ministries at the airport.

Earlier on January 5, Sun Group signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Vietnam Airlines for the 2022-2023 period.

Reporting by THU HA – Translating by H.L