Day: July 13, 2021

TOKYO – Japan will make additional donations of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan and other Asian neighbors this week, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday.

Japan will ship 1 million doses each to Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam on Thursday as part of bilateral deals with those governments, Motegi told reporters.

An additional 11 million doses donated through the COVAX sharing scheme will be sent this month to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Iran, Laos, Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as various Pacific Island states, he said.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry expressed thanks for the gesture, particularly at a serious stage in Japan’s own coronavirus battle. Japan has donated about 3.4 million doses to Taiwan in a show of support for the Chinese-claimed island.

“The friendship between Taiwan and Japan is unwavering,” the Taiwan ministry said in a statement. “The Foreign Ministry once again thanks our partners in freedom and democracy for their warm assistance and strong support.”

In a statement, Vietnam said it would receive a million doses from Japan on Friday in Ho Chi Minh City, where it is fighting its largest outbreak yet after months of successful containment.

“It is encouraging that a number of richer countries have made generous pledges and donations of vaccines to countries in Asia in recent weeks,” said Alexander Matheou of aid group the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“We need to speed up the delivery of these lifesaving doses so that we can get them into people’s arms, giving us a genuine shot at containing this pandemic once and for all.”

Taiwan has complained that Chinese interference blocked its deal this year to secure vaccines from Germany’s BioNTech, charges Beijing has denied. Since then, vaccine donations have rolled into Taiwan.

Taiwan’s relatively small domestic COVID-19 outbreak has generally been brought under control, except for a few sporadic community infections.

Japan has pledged $1 billion and 30 million doses to COVAX. Motegi said on Tuesday the AstraZeneca doses made in Japan were approved by the World Health Organization on July 9 for use in COVAX.

Source: Voice of America

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Tajikistan on July 13-14 to take part in the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers.

His visit comes at the invitation of Sirojiddin Muhriddin, the Foreign Minister of Tajikistan which is the chair of the SCO this year.

The meeting will discuss the achievements of the organization as it celebrates the 20th Anniversary of its formation this year, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday.

It will also assess the preparation for the upcoming SCO Council of Heads of States scheduled to be held on September 16-17 in Dushanbe.

The SCO Foreign Ministers will also exchange views on current international and regional issues.

According to the MEA, Jaishankar will also participate in the SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan on July 14. The group’s meet will see the participation of the Afghanistan Government.

The meeting is significant as it comes at a time when Afghanistan is wracked by a military offensive against the government by the Taliban.

The SCO grouping has 8 member states–Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Mongolia, Belarus, Afghanistan, and Iran are observer countries. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.

Source: TREND News Agency