China will continue supporting Pakistan to tackle Covid-19: envoy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Monday signed handing over the certificate for providing the third batch of 500,000 vials of COVID-19 vaccine under grant assistance. Earlier, China had provided one million doses of vaccine to Pakistan under the first and second batch.

According to an official announcement made here on Monday, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan witnessed the signing ceremony of a handing over certificate for ‘Third Batch of COVID-19 Vaccine Aid’ along with Chinese envoy Nong Rong to Pakistan.

Under this batch, China provided 500,000 vials of the COVID-19 vaccine under grant assistance. Under the first and second batch of COVID-19 vaccine donation, one million doses of Sinopharm vaccine were donated by the Chinese government. This will help vaccinate the priority population and control the spread of the disease.

Moreover, the minister discussed the bilateral economic relations between the two countries with the ambassador in his office. During the meeting Pakistan-China economic relations, implementation of CPEC projects and other matters of mutual interest were also discussed.

The Minister for Economic Affairs at the outset re-iterated the firm commitment of the government to the security of all Chinese persons working on different projects in Pakistan. The minister lauded China for supporting infrastructure and energy projects in Pakistan.

The minister emphasized that after development of necessary infrastructure the focus should be on industrialization and poverty alleviation. He highlighted that the socio-economic projects agreed therein are in line with the vision of the incumbent government for socio-economic uplift of the common people and enhanced economic activities in the country. The progress of the ongoing projects was also discussed which is satisfactory despite the pandemic situation.

The minister also appreciated the Chinese assistance for combating COVID-19 pandemic and locust attack. Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong conveyed his best wishes to the minister for assuming new portfolio. He also reaffirmed Chinese support to Pakistan on issues of mutual interest. He reiterated that China will continue supporting Pakistan to tackle the COVID-19.