China hands over additional 10m doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Ethiopia

A handover ceremony of an additional 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, assisted by the Chinese government to Ethiopia, was held on June 27 at the Ethiopian Ministry of Health.

The ceremony was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Zhao Zhiyuan and Ethiopian Minister of Health Lia Tadesse.

Zhao said that the donation is a manifestation of China's commitment to make great efforts to promote China-Africa cooperation in the fight against  COVID-19, a pledge made at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. He said he hopes the donation will help Ethiopia improve its confidence and ability to overcome the pandemic.

Zhao said that China is willing to work together with Ethiopia to use the vaccine as a powerful weapon to combat COVID-19, to contribute to promoting the health and welfare of the Chinese and Ethiopian people as well as friendship between the two countries, and to continuously advance the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Ethiopia to a higher level.

Tadesse said that the vaccine provided by China will help  Ethiopia in its anti-COVID-19 fight and economic recovery.

Ethiopia is actively carrying out a universal vaccination campaign, said Tadesse, adding that Ethiopia will work together with China to fight the pandemic and restore prosperity and development as soon as possible, while promoting greater progress in China-Ethiopia relations.