Approximately 50 guests attended the donation ceremony at the Novotel Yangon Max Hotel in Yangon, including members of the recipient organizations and Mr. Keita Iwase, second secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Myanmar.

Ms. Shwe Cin Myint of The Myanmar Red Cross Society gave a speech on behalf of the recipient organizations, saying, "The Myanmar Red Cross Society has used solar lanterns in medical fields and refugee camps. Solar lanterns have gone beyond improving the quality of life among residents in areas without electricity, and also served people who have been driven from their homes by conflict. We must not forget these gifts. The Myanmar Red Cross Society and all of the other NGOs and NPOs present at the ceremony today would like to thank Panasonic sincerely for their extensive efforts for Myanmar."

Hisakazu Maeda, Chief Representative of Panasonic Asia Pacific Myanmar branch, spoke on behalf of his company, saying, "Since our founding, we have lived by our management philosophy of contributing to society through our business activities, and we hope to continue being involved in addressing Myanmar's social issues like education and healthcare just as the 100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project has done. Personally, when I visited off grid regions myself, I saw first-hand how solar lanterns are helping to better the lives of residents."

Still today, an estimated 1.2 billion people, or 17% of the world's population, live in areas without electricity. We will continue our donations in Indonesia, the Philippines, other countries in Asia and Africa, with our sights set on our goal of donating one hundred thousand lanterns.