ALAMEIN, Jul 19 (NNN-MENA) – Visiting Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi and his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, yesterday attended a ceremony marking the joint production of one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, in Egypt.
The ceremony was held during Wang’s official visit to Alamein, a coastal city in northern Egypt.
After China and Egypt inked a letter of intent for cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine production, in Dec, 2020, a Chinese company signed an agreement with an Egyptian firm, and sent technical teams to Egypt, to facilitate local production of the vaccine.
Only half a year after the signing of the agreement, the Chinese vaccine was officially put into production in Egypt and reached the output of one million doses.
As the first batch of vaccines rolled off the production line, Egypt became the first country on the African continent, to cooperate with China in the COVID-19 vaccine production.
The local production of the Chinese vaccine in Egypt, which demonstrates China’s determination and sincerity in promoting international anti-pandemic cooperation, marks a concrete move to actively implement Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s pledge, to make the vaccine a global public good. It is also an important step taken by China to promote equal distribution of the vaccines and bridge the immunity gap.
This project is not only of great significance to Egypt’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic, but also will greatly help Africa and the Arab region, prevail over the pandemic at an early date.– NNN-MENA
