China will donate a total of 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Rwanda in 2022 to support country’s vaccination program. The Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda, Rao Hongwei informed Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta during a phone call on Tuesday.
Information from the Chinese embassy say that the commitment is part of President Xi Jinping’s pledge of 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African countries made at the just-concluded Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
During the phone conversation, Ambassador Rao congratulated Rwanda for achieving the goal of vaccinating 40% of the population in 2021. The pledged vaccines will further support in speeding up national vaccination program and better protecting people’s health and safety.
China says it will continue to work hand in hand with Rwanda to defeat the virus at an early date, overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19, and further strengthen bilateral relations.
Minister Biruta, on behalf of the Rwandan Government, expresses sincere thanks to the Chinese Government for the decision on additional vaccine donation.
He said that China, as Rwanda’s good partner, has contributed to Rwanda’s achieving last year’s vaccination target on schedule.
The further said assistance will help Rwanda increase the vaccination rate, reach the goal of vaccinating 70% of the population by mid-2022 timely, and greatly boost Rwanda’s confidence in COVID-19 response.
Rwanda looks forward to further expanding bilateral pragmatic cooperation and deepening bilateral relations in the new year.
China has provided more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 120 countries and international organizations by the end of 2021, making itself the biggest supplier of outbound vaccines among all countries over the world.
