Nepali FM praises China's support to fight against COVID-19
Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has praised China's support to Nepal to fight COVID-19 including its provision of vaccine as the Himalayan country is running a second phase of vaccination drive.
On March 1, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi said the Chinese government has decided to increase grant assistance of COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal.
On Feb. 17, Nepal's drug regulator -- Department of Drug Administration -- granted approval to the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd, under Sinopharm, for emergency use in Nepal.
"We are very grateful to China for providing vaccines. I believe the vaccine provided by China will help Nepal to overcome COVID-19," Gyawali said in an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday. "Earlier, China had provided medical supplies to Nepal."
Praising China's efforts to forge international cooperation to fight the pandemic by supplying masks, personal protective equipment, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machines, among others, to the world in the early months of the pandemic, Minister Gyawali criticized attempts to politicize the pandemic.
"Some countries tried to do politics even with COVID-19 with prejudice. What all the countries must have understood is that COVID-19 is the global problem. It didn't care about political colors or (national) boundaries," said the Nepali foreign minister.
He also recalled the meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in virtual meetings along with leaders of other nations where they discussed cooperation to fight the pandemic.
Gyawali also hailed cooperation between Nepal and China under the framework of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The two countries had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the BRI in May 2017.
During the second Belt and Road Forum for international cooperation held in Beijing in 2019, a framework of trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network was also included in the BRI.
"We lost a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe that we will implement the selected project under the BRI rapidly. This will help both countries to enhance connectivity. We will be connected by railway, road, ports, and air transportation and there will also be economic connectivity along the border," he said.
Gyawali also congratulated the Chinese government, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people for the success in eradicating extreme poverty.
On Feb. 25, the Chinese government said absolute poverty has been eradicated in the world's most populous country, home to over 1.4 billion people after years of efforts.
Over the past eight years, the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line have all been lifted out of poverty. Combined with poverty-reduction results since the late 1970s, China is responsible for over 70 percent of the global reduction in poverty over the period.
"This is a great achievement for China that within just 40 years of fighting against poverty. The country has been able to overcome poverty. No other country has been able to do this yet. We should give credit to the Communist Party of China for this great achievement," said Gyawali.
"We are very happy for China (for this achievement). And, we also want to learn from China. Sharing experience (of China) will be important for us. Although the situations of two countries are different, we can always learn from China."
Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries, but a UN body has recommended Nepal for graduation from the least developed country status to a developing country with a preparatory period of five years.
