"On this holiday we say thanks and pay tribute to the courage and self-sacrifices of members of national civil defense services, international and civil organizations carrying out difficult but important and noble work to protect the population and territories from emergency situations," Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said in a statement published on the official website of the Russian Emergencies Ministry on Sunday.
Puchkov also congratulated the Secretary General of the International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO) Vladimir Kuvshinov with the holiday, stressing that ICDO is the only intergovernmental organization solving important issues in the field of civil defense on the international level.
"The organization's activities are strategically important in the context of prevention of emergency situations in the time of peace and humanitarian assistance in the event of their occurrence," Puchkov said.
According to the ICDO website, the holiday "commemorates the entry into force of the ICDO Constitution as an intergovernmental organization in 1972" and has two purposes – to bring the attention of the world public to the importance of civil protection and to pay tribute to the work of all national civil defense services.
ICDO currently has 53 member-states, 18 countries have an observer status in the organization. Russia became a member of ICDO in 1993.
According to the organization's website, the mission of ICDO is to develop the national defense structures of its member-states through the build-up of international cooperation and civil defense services capacity.
