Italy’s Ambassador to Hanoi, Antonio Alessandro, travelled to the province of Thua Thien Hue today, March 7, to attend a ceremony to honour the memory of Carlo Urbani and revive relations with one of the most dynamic and historically rich regions in central Vietnam.
The moving ceremony dedicated to Carlo Urbani – the Italian WHO expert who first identified the SARS virus in Vietnam and worked in such an exemplary manner to the point of sacrificing his life – was attended by Italian diplomatic and consular authorities, as well as by the WHO Representative, the Director of the Vietnam Ministry of Health, and local academics. Carlo Urbani’s widow, Giuliana Chiorrini, joined in remotely.
On the occasion of the visit, Ambassador Alessandro, together with the staff of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Vietnam and the provincial authorities, inaugurated – inter alia – the start of works for the construction of the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of the University Hospital of Hue. The Italian cooperation project, which is worth 13 million euros, concerns the improvement of health services in Vietnam’s central regions. One of the 11 projects of the three-year Italy-Vietnam scientific and technological cooperation programme was also launched. The project, led by the Hue University of Science and the Polytechnic University of the Marche region, aims to develop an innovative data localisation and management system for the enhancement of natural and cultural heritage.
