China has put Pakistan as priority after pledging US $100 million to COVAX: Ambassador Nong Rong

Rawalpindi: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong has announced that Iron Brother China had listed Pakistan as a ‘priority’ as it pledged US $100 million to COVAX – the global initiative against the Covid pandemic.

In a tweet, Ambassador Nong Rong said the first batch of vaccines provided to COVAX by Beijing was being shipped to Pakistan, which has been ‘put’ as China’s priority.

“Our commitment: making vaccines a global public good, and put Pakistan as our priority,” the ambassador tweeted.

Pakistan has so far received 5.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 2.4 million doses of AstraZeneca along with over 100,000 doses of Pfizer as part of the COVAX effort.

In July this year, COVAX signed a deal with China to buy more than 100 million Chinese jabs. Seth Berkley, who heads the Gavi alliance – one of the partners behind the Covax initiative to get jabs to poorer countries – hailed the agreement with Sinovac and Sinopharm for 110 million shots.

Last week, President Xi Jinping said China will “strive to provide” two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to the world this year and donate US $100 million to COVAX.

“For the whole of this year, China will strive to provide two billion doses of vaccine to the world,” Xi said in remarks reported by the state media.

Meanwhile on Tuesday afternoon, Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong Tuesday called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.

During the meeting, matters of mutual interests, defence collaboration, progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and regional security were discussed in detail, said a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the military.

The visiting dignitary appreciated Pakistan’s sincere efforts for peace and stability in the region. He reiterated that China shall continue to support Pakistan as a strategic partner.

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed was also present during the meeting, said the statement.