DHAKA, May 22, 2021

Beijing has assured Dhaka of providing all cooperation for keeping a ‘stable supply’ of Chinese vaccine to Bangladesh.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave the assurance while he had a telephone conversation with his Bangladesh counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday night, a foreign ministry press release said here.

At the request of Dr Momen, Wang Yi, who is also the State Councilor of China, also announced that China has decided to provide 6 lakh more COVID-19 vaccine doses to Bangladesh as second batch of gift.

During the conversation, Momen also requested China to take initiative for Chinese COVID-19 vaccine co-production in Dhaka.

In reply, the Chinese foreign minister assured that he will encourage Chinese vaccine producer to go for co-production with Bangladeshi pharmaceuticals companies.

The announcement of second batch of vaccine doses as gift just nine days after the arrival of the first, reflects that China attaches great importance to the friendly relations between the two countries, a separate Chinese embassy press release said here after the telephone conversation of the two ministers.

“At the critical time point in Bangladesh’s fight against the epidemic, China is concerned about the urgent need for vaccine of Bangladeshi friends and overcomes the huge demand for domestic and foreign orders and the shortage of vaccine supply,” said the release.

The Chinese mission here believed that the arrival of the second batch of Chinese gift vaccine will definitely help the Bangladeshi government and people build a strong line of defense against the epidemic.

In the future, the release said, China is willing to provide the necessary support for Bangladesh and South Asian countries to fight the epidemic, deepen anti-epidemic cooperation with Bangladesh, and effectively protect the health and life of the people of the two countries.

The Bangladesh foreign and health ministries have been continuing discussion with the Chinese side to bring more Chinese vaccine in Bangladesh commercially.

Last week, Dr Momen said the processing of purchasing Chinese vaccine commercially is on the final stage.

On May 12, China handed over first batch of five lakh doses of its Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh as gift while Dhaka is keeping its efforts on globally to get access to enough inoculation.bss