Diplomatic Correspondent: An agreement has been signed between the Sinopharm of China, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Incepta Vaccine Ltd, renowned vaccine manufacturing company of the country was held yesterday, Monday at 3.00pm.at the auditorium of Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS), Mohakhali, Dhaka in order to produce the Sinopharm Covid vaccine in Bangladesh.

Honourable Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mr. Zahid Maleque, MP was the chief guest at the signing ceremony.

Honourable Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen, MP, was present as the Guest of Honour.

Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Sr. Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Ambassdor People’s Republic of China Li Jiming , Major General Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), Mr. Abdul Muktadir , Chairman of Incepta Vaccine Ltd and Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd were also present in the programme as special guests.

Prof Dr. Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Director General, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) gave a welcome speech. Mr. Lokman Hossain Miah, Sr. Secretary, Health Service Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare presided over the function.

In addition, Counselor of the Department of Asia Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ji Rong and the Chairman of Sinopharm Mr. Liu Jingzhen were connected online from Beijing and delivered speech as special guests.

Mr. Fu Qiang, Chief Engineer of Sinopharm gave the welcvome speech on behalf of Sinopharm.

Aiminghg to co-produce the China’s Sinopharm vaccine in banglades, the memorandum of Understanding was signed by Honourable Minister Mr. Zahid Malek, MP, His Excellency People’s republic of China Mr. Li Jiming and Abdful Muktadir, Chairman of Incepta Vaccine Ltd and Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. on behalf of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Sinopharma andf Incepta Vaccine Ltd. respectively.

Honb’le Ambassdor of the People’s Republic of China to Bangladesh in his speech said, both sides have worked very hard towards the same goal, and both governments have given necessary support to this end.

The world today is still in the grip of the COVID pandemic. As the virus continues to mutate and wreak havoc, putting it under control remains our top priority. In the battle, vaccines are of vital importance.

However, the immunization gap remains a prominent challenge to the world and deserves high attention from the international community.

At the 73rd World Health Assembly held in May last year, President Xi Jinping solemnly announced that Chinese vaccines will be made a global public good as China`s contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries. China is steadily delivering on this commitment.

He said, China believes that people’s life and health must always be the first priority, and they must not be preceded by economic, political or other interests. We must ensure they remain so and reject the rising vaccine nationalism. To win this fight where humanity`s future is at stake, solidarity and cooperation is the only right choice. In order to do so, I think at least three deficits need to be addressed.

Firstly, the distribution deficit. Vaccines should be shared with greater intensity and speed to make them accessible to and affordable for developing countries around the world as quickly as possible, especially the least developed countries.

China acted quickly to provide vaccines to fellow developing countries in need. Although China`s vaccine production capacity has yet to reach a sizeable scale and domestic demand for vaccination has been rising sharply, China has already donated, and is donating, vaccines to over 100 countries, through bilateral or international channels, and is exporting vaccines to over 60 countries. The total number has exceeded 800 million doses, the largest in the world. China has also provided vaccines to COVAX, UN peacekeepers and the International Olympic Committee. The safety and efficacy of Chinese vaccines have gained authoritative recognition internationally. We are striving to provide two billion doses to the world in the course of this year.

At the bilateral level, China is one of the most reliable partners of Bangladesh in terms of vaccine cooperation. China has provided 2.1 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine as gift to Bangladesh, 3.4 million doses under the COVAX facility, and 8 million doses as part of an arrangement of a large-scale commercial purchase.

Secondly, the production deficit. While ramping up total supply, producing countries should also support developing countries including Bangladesh through joint production, and safeguard the global supply chain of raw materials.

China acted quickly to work with other developing countries on vaccine production. The UAE, Egypt, Indonesia and Brazil, for example, have become the first countries in their respective regions to have COVID vaccine production capacity in collaboration with China.  And today, I am proud to see that with the beginning of local production of the Sinopharm vaccine together with Incepta to be launched here soon, Bangladesh will be the next  to have that capacity.

Thirdly, the cooperation deficit. After the successful signing ceremony, the vaccine cooperation between our two countries has become a role model in this region. From It, we can see that vaccine cooperation requires greater solidarity and sense of responsibility, and full mobilization of governments, businesses and international organizations, so as to form synergy. Recently, you may have noticed, the “political virus”  is posing an ever increasing threat to the global anti-pandemic cooperation, especially in the COVID-19 virus origin-tracing process.

Ambassador Li Jiming further said, China believes that tracing the origin of the virus is very important and it could give us clues to predict and prevent future pandemics, whereas the COVID-19 origin-tracing is a serious scientific issue that should not be manipulated by politics,  and can only be done by scientists, not by politicians or intelligence personnel of any country.

Taking this good opportunity, I would like to make it very clear to our friends here that China does not oppose origin studies based on science. What we oppose is origin studies based on politics and using politicized origin tracing as a tool to exhaust China’s diplomatic resources. With full support of China, the phase I origin studies led by the WHO have reached conclusions widely recognized by the international community and global scientists, and it should and must be upheld as a guidance for future work.

Under certain pressure, the plan for phase II origin studies recently circulated by the WHO Secretariat runs against its work in phase I. The plan doesn’t solicit the opinions of the WHO member states and doesn’t reflect the WHA resolution, and therefore it is no surprise that more than 70 countries including Bangladesh have expressed their dissatisfaction of the plan in different ways.

He heartily thanked Bangladesh for respecting science, multilateralism and justice by doing so, and I am sure that our anti-pandemic cooperation will only become stronger and more fruitful, thus further contributing to the global fight against COVID-19.

He said, “ I wish to underscore that in carrying out vaccine cooperation, China has no political motive or economic calculations, and China does not attach any political strings. The only purpose of China is to make vaccines a global public good that truly serves the people’s interests and help the world defeat the pandemic at an early date. To this end, China will take further actions. We will continue increasing production capacity steadily, providing more accessible and affordable vaccines to meet the needs of developing countries, and supporting the WTO in making an early decision on IP waiver.

Let us work together to build a great wall against COVID-19, protect the health of our people and humanity, win the victory over the pandemic with solidarity and build a global community of health for all.”