E-025/00
February 9, 2000

AT OAS, THAILAND GIVES TO
VENEZUELA RELIEF EFFORT

 

A monetary gift the government of Thailand presented today is the latest contribution towards relief efforts in Venezuela, where late last year more than 20,000 were estimated to have perished in massive floods and landslides.

Presenting the check for just over US$13,000, Thailand's Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Nitya Pibulsonggram, explained at a ceremony at the OAS that the Thai gesture was intended as solidarity with the Venezuelan people and the OAS community, and to show "our friendship and goodwill."

Ambassador Virginia Contreras, Venezuela's Permanent Representative to the OAS, accepted the check and expressed deep gratitude on behalf of her government and people. "Indeed," said the Venezuelan envoy, "every tragedy has some message of hope… While many Venezuelans lost family… gestures like this remind us that we have family elsewhere as well."

On hand to witness the presentation was Ambassador Christopher Thomas, the OAS Assistant Secretary General, along with a number of diplomats and officials from the Thai Observer Mission and the OAS.

 

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