China donates supplies to Laos for fight against COVID-19

A handover ceremony of anti-COVID-19 supplies donated by the Chinese government to the Lao government was held in Beijing on May 10.

Deng Boqing, vice-chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), and Thongsavanh Phyathep, deputy chief of mission of the Lao Embassy in China, attended the ceremony.

Deng said that the new wave of the pandemic in Laos is grim. At the request of the Lao government, the Chinese government has provided emergency anti-pandemic materials and dispatched medical experts to Laos to provide technical support. The expert team arrived in Laos on May 4, and the first batch of supplies arrived on the same day. Today China delivered a new batch of materials to Laos to spare no efforts to help the Lao side fight the pandemic, he added.

Deng said that since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has upheld the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, implemented the spirit of the East Asian leaders' and foreign ministers' meetings, and worked together with Laos and other ASEAN countries to overcome difficulties. So far, China has provided ASEAN countries with rounds of vaccine donations and anti-pandemic supplies including ventilators, testing reagents, masks and protective suits, and sent several groups of medical experts, which vividly illustrate the concept of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

In the face of the pandemic, solidarity and cooperation are the only option for all countries in the world. China is willing to work with Laos and other countries to fight against the virus and the pandemic, to make unremitting efforts to build a global community of health for all and to safeguard the well-being of mankind, Deng said.

Phyathep, on behalf of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the Lao government and people, sincerely thanked China for its emergency assistance which he believes will help Laos fight the pandemic and further consolidate the two countries' strategic relations as good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners, and the China-Laos community with a shared future.