DHAKA, June 6, 2021 (BSS) – Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen hoped today that no obstacle may be placed in getting Chinese vaccine and said there is no ‘deficit’ in Dhaka-Beijing bilateral relations over the COVID-19 inoculation.
“There isn’t supposed to be any problem (to get Chinese vaccine),” he told reporters at his office today.
The foreign minister also said the Bangladesh is discussing procuring vaccine from a Chinese company while the Chinese government is playing the role of facilitator in between the two sides.
“Diplomatically, we agreed that Bangladesh wants to buy (Chinese COVID vaccine), and they (China) will supply,” he said.
Dr Momen said he had requested Chinese foreign minister to ensure ‘stable supply’ of COVID vaccine to Bangladesh and his counterpart gave him assurance in this regard.
The health ministry has almost completed process of purchasing 1.5 crore doses of Sinopharm vaccines from China commercially.
On Saturday, Chinese embassy here said Beijing will send the second consignment of 600,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines as part of gifts to Bangladesh by June 13.
At the request of Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen On May 22, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi announced that China has decided to provide six lakh more COVID-19 vaccine doses to Bangladesh as second batch of gift.
On May 12, China handed over first batch of five lakh doses of its Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh as gift while Dhaka is keeping its efforts on globally to get access to enough inoculation.