No complication with China over Covid vaccine purchase: Momen

There is no complication with China regarding purchase of Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday.

“Diplomatically, we agreed that Bangladesh wants to buy (vaccine doses from China) and they would like to supply,” he told reporters at his office in Dhaka.

The foreign minister said vaccine doses will be procured from the Chinese company and the Chinese government will play the role of facilitator in between. “The private company will decide what it’ll do. It’s their matter.”

He said no problem is supposed to be there as there is no such change, reports UNB.

On Saturday, Hualong Yan, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka, said no deal was made between Sinopharm and the Bangladesh side till today.

He said this will be a commercial purchase negotiation between the Bangladesh government and Sinopharm, rather than with the Chinese government.

On May 27, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved a proposal for buying 1.5 crore doses of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Hualong Yan in a Facebook post on Saturday said 6,00,000 doses of vaccine gifted by the Chinese government are ready for delivery by June 13. “It’s sincerely hoped that our Bangladeshi brothers and sisters will get the most needed vaccines at an earlier date,” he said.

Just nine days after the arrival of the first batch of 5,00,000 doses of gift vaccine in Bangladesh, China announced the provision of the second batch of gift vaccine doses to Bangladesh.

China says it fully reflects that China attaches great importance to the friendly relations between the two countries.

The foreign minister said that good news is that the US will provide vaccine doses to Bangladesh. “But they didn’t tell us the exact figure.”

He said Bangladesh needs a huge amount of vaccine doses as it is a big market of 165 million people.