Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (right) and Pascal Soriot, CEO/Executive Director at Astrazeneca (Photo: VNA)Welcoming Soriot to return to Vietnam after 25years, Chinh attributed Vietnam’s achievements in the COVID-19 fight andeconomic development to practical contributions by many countries andorganisations, including Astrazeneca that has quickly supplied its vaccine toVietnam and given incentives to the Southeast Asian nation.
The Vietnamese government and people will foreverbear in mind the valuable support from Astrazeneca, he stressed.
The PM told Soriot that thanks to the “5K message” - khau trang (facemask), khu khuan(disinfection), khoang cach (distance), khong tu tap (no gathering), and khaibao y te (health declaration), vaccines, medicines, technologies and publicawareness, Vietnam has brought the pandemic under control andreopened its border since March 15.
He also shared Vietnam’s experience in socialdistancing, testing and treatment during the pandemic combat, and noted that the31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) – the biggest regionalsports even that was held safely and successfully in Vietnam earlier this monthwith the participation of thousands of athletes and mass audiences reflectsregion’s victory over the pandemic.
In reply, Soriot said his visit is intended todeepen the relations between the group and Vietnam, expressing his admirationand impression on the country’s efforts to fulfil its dual goals of pandemic containmentand economic development, which, he emphasised, demonstrate the leadership andmanagement capacity of the Vietnamese government.
As one of the three leading groups globally in theresearch and treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, AstraZenecawishes to expand its presence in Vietnam, commits to closely cooperating withthe Vietnamese government to improve the country’s medical capacity and developits pharmaceutical industry, and stands ready to transfer vaccine productiontechnology to Vietnam, he said.
Lauding Astrazeneca’s decision to invest 90 millionUSD in pharmaceutical production in Vietnam, Chinh said the group’s developmentstrategy completely matches Vietnam’s strategy, vision and mindset onprotecting public health and sustainable development.
He called on the group to share its experience in managementand personnel training, and support Vietnam to fulfil its goals of gas emissionreduction as announced at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference ofthe Parties (COP26) in the UK last year.
Soriot, in response, pledged that Astrazeneca will makemore investments to help Vietnam in medical capacity improvement and personneltraining.
The Executive Director said he was impressed byVietnam’s commitments at the COP26, adding that Astrazeneca has been pouring400 million USD into afforestation projects, aiming to grow 1 billion treesglobally by 2026.
Soriot noted his hope that such project will berolled out in Vietnam, helping Vietnam fulfil its goals of greenhouse gasemission reduction and green growth.
This is the third time the PM has had a workingsession with a leader of Astrazeneca, following the online talks on August 19,2021 and an in-person meeting on November 2 the same year as part of his tripto the UK for the COP26.
Through the meetings, cooperation between the twosides has been deepened, contributing to implementing Vietnamese Party’s andState’s consistent policy of putting people’s health and safety at first andforemost./.
VNA
