China-Pakistan vaccine cooperation reflects joint efforts to fight Covid-19: FM

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Ministry's Spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Monday said that the vaccine cooperation between Pakistan and China not only reflected the sincere mutual assistance between the two all-weather strategic cooperative partners, but also reflected the duo's efforts to promote vaccines as a global public product and improve the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.

"The vaccine cooperation demonstrates not only our mutual assistance as all weather strategic cooperative partners but also our joint efforts as two developing countries to make vaccine a global public good and to promote their accessibility and affordability in fellow developing countries", he said during his regular briefing held here.

He informed that in the early hours today, a batch of inactivated Covid-19 vaccines donated by Chinese government to Pakistan arrived in Islamabad.

"It was the first batch of vaccine provided by the Chinese government to another country and a concrete step in honouring President Xi's pledge of making Covid-19 vaccine a global public good," he added.

He remarked that China and Pakistan are all weather strategic partners, adding, Since the Covid-19 began, the two countries have been supporting and assisting each other.

The spokesperson pointed out that last year at China's most trying moment, Pakistan offered valuable support, by first donating medical supplies, among the first group of countries.

When the epidemic situation in China eased, we supported Pakista,s fight against the virus through various means including donating medical supplies and sending medical experts, he added.

"Virus respects no boundaries and we are all in this together", he said and added, Solidarity and cooperation is our most powerful weapon".

He hoped that all parties would take real actions, provide more vaccines to developing countries and contribute to equitable allocation and application of vaccines across the world so that "we can defeat the virus at an early date."

While sharing details of China's plans to providing vaccine to other countries, he said that besides Pakistan, China was providing vaccine assistance to 13 development countries including Brunei, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Laos, Belarus, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Philippines, Myanmar, Belarus, Mongolia, Zimbabwe etc.

In next phase, we will continue to providing such assistance to another 38 developing countries in need, he added.

He said that the Chinese side was also participating in the WHO-led Covax initiative to provide vaccine to developing countries and added, China supports our companies in joint research and development and manufacturing.

Wang Wenbin said that on vaccine with foreign partners, China exported Sinopharm and Siovac vaccines to countries like UAE, Morocco, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile for clinical trials.

China also supports our companies in exporting vaccines to countries who are in urgent need of vaccine, recognize the Chinese vaccine and authorise its domestic use, he said.

It is worth mentioning that a plane of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carrying 500,000 doses of China-made Covid-19 vaccine returned to Islamabad from Beijing, making Pakistan the first country to which China has provided vaccines as overseas assistance, in keeping with the bilateral all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

The donation of vaccines was announced by State Councilor Wang Yi to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a telephone call last week.

The vaccines will be offered to 250,000 people, with everyone receiving two doses.

Two foreign Covid-19 vaccines have been approved for emergency use in Pakistan so far, including the vaccine manufactured by Chinese enterprise Sinopharm.