by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday, saying that the Chinese leader has injected fresh dynamism into global fight against COVID-19.
In an interview with Xinhua Tuesday, Momen said: "We highly welcome his policy statement."
In a speech delivered at the opening of the WHA session via video link on Monday, Xi announced concrete measures to boost global fight against COVID-19, such as providing international aid and making China's COVID-19 vaccine a global public good when available.
"Definitely Chinese proposals are very important," said Momen. He expressed the hope that China would go ahead with these measures to encourage other players to make further contributions to addressing the global health challenge.
"We admire him and his policy statements at the assembly aimed at injecting fresh dynamism into global pandemic combat," he said, adding that the proposals made by the Chinese leader definitely ushered in hope for economic recovery of all the countries and regions now feeling the pinch of COVID-19.
Momen said it is not possible for a single country, organization or individual to fight alone such a massive crisis.
He said the only way forward for the world is now to have multilateral cooperation under recognized global bodies like the World Health Organization.
"This is a global crisis. And this should be resolved globally through combined efforts," said Momen.
With reference to his recent discussions with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, he said "Chinese doctors and experts have shared the prevention and control knowledge on the COVID-19 pandemic with our health professionals via video workshop and other channels."
Additionally, Momen said that they got COVID-19 test kits and other medical supplies first from China.
"We all have to work together," he said, adding that this crisis has further deepened Bangladesh's relations with China on various global issues.
Regarding Xi's proposal of establishing a "global humanitarian response depot and hub in China", he said such an initiative could bolster efforts for coordinated global cooperation in the future to combat similar crises. Enditem
