PM proposes AstraZeneca continue supplying COVID-19 vaccine, treatment drugs
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a reception in Ha Noi on January 19 for Nitin Kapoor, President for Asia Area Frontier Markets at AstraZeneca, and Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Viet Nam.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a reception in Ha Noi on January 19 for Nitin Kapoor, President for Asia Area Frontier Markets at AstraZeneca. (Photo: VNA) |
Highly valuing the role and contributions of AstraZeneca in the fight against COVID-19 in the world and Viet Nam, PM Chinh hailed AstraZeneca Viet Nam's close coordination with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies to complete its commitment to provide 30 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for Viet Nam in 2021 before schedule, enabling the country to switch its strategy to safely, flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling the pandemic.
AstraZeneca has also helped foster the strategic partnership between Viet Nam and the UK in health care, he said.
For his part, Kapoor spoke highly of Viet Nam’s efforts in implementing its vaccine diplomacy, describing the country as an exemplary model in pandemic control. He also lauded Viet Nam’s socio-economic recovery policies, reform efforts and freshly-approved support package of nearly 350 trillion VND (15.42 billion USD).
He briefed the Vietnamese leader on the implementation of agreements reached by PM Chinh and AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot in their meeting last November during the PM’s visit to the UK. Kapoor said that AstraZeneca is speeding up a 90 million USD project to transfer drug manufacturing technology to Viet Nam and is seeking a Vietnamese partner to transfer its vaccine production technology.
Kapoor revealed that AstraZeneca is considering the reduction of vaccine price for Viet Nam.
PM Chinh thanked AstraZeneca for joining hands with Viet Nam in fighting COVID-19, and proposed the company continue to realise its committed projects in Viet Nam, while continuing to provide new-generation COVID-19 vaccines and treatment medicines for Viet Nam to improve the country’s capacity to respond to new SARS-CoV-2 variants, and share international experience with Viet Nam in injecting COVID-19 vaccines to children aged between 5-12.
The PM pledged that the Vietnamese Government will support and create optimal conditions for AstraZeneca to implement its research, production and technology transfer projects in Viet Nam. He hoped that the firm would continue to accompany Viet Nam's health care sector, contributing to deepening the Viet Nam-UK strategic partnership.
Kapoor reaffirmed AstraZeneca's commitments in Viet Nam and vowed to support Viet Nam to become a leading pharmaceutical center in the region.
(Source: VNA)
