Afghanistan receives batch of China-donated Sinopharm vaccines

KABUL, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government arrived in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Wednesday.

A handover ceremony was held at Kabul international airport, attended by Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu and deputy minister of Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry Abdul Bari Omar.

Since the political situation of Afghanistan has changed, China has announced to donate 3 million doses of vaccines and other medical supplies to Afghanistan, Wang said while addressing the ceremony.

In order to help Afghanistan overcome the current difficulties, China is now accelerating the work on 200 million yuan (31 million USD) worth of emergency assistance to Afghanistan, including food, winter supplies, vaccines and medicines, he said.

Wang noted that China is importing a large amount of pine nuts that will bring Afghan pine nut farmers with the income reaching hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars. Moreover, China will assist Afghanistan in further expanding its export and the projects that could help improve people's livelihood.

For his part, Omar expressed his appreciation to the Chinese government for the donation and support provided to Afghanistan. He said the donation is very important for the people of Afghanistan in this critical situation.

This shipment of Sinopharm vaccines is the second Chinese donation of the COVID-19 vaccine to Afghanistan. In June, a batch of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines was handed over to Afghanistan.