Your Excellency Mr.Bonifácio Maukoli dos Reis, Deputy Minister of Health,
Mr. Santana Martins, Executive Director of Timor-Leste's Medical and Pharmaceutical Supply Agency (SAMES),
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning!
It is a great pleasure to attend today's ceremony to donate a batch of urgently needed anti-epidemic and medical supplies to the Ministry of Health of Timor-Leste on behalf of Chinese Government. This batch of supplies includes 100 thousand doses of Sinovac vaccines, 20 ventilators, 20 oxygen concentrators, 20 thousand nucleic acid detection reagents, 50 units of infusion pumps, 50 units of patient monitors, 2 units of anaesthetic machine, 2 units of ultrasound machine, 50 thousand bottles of Hand sanitizer and 10 thousand pieces of protecting clothing. This donation was requested by the Ministry of Health last year. And China responded to it positively. Afterwards, the two sides worked hard to overcome transportation difficulties and finally made the supplies arrived in Timor-Leste recently by sea and charter flight respectively. As another good practice between the two countries in health cooperation, this assistance shows China’s firm support to Timor-Leste in fighting the epidemic, and great importance China attaches to the friendly relationship between our two countries. And It is believed that this batch of supplies will help Timor-Leste fight against the epidemic and improve its medical and health condition.
The dual challenges of COVID-19 and dengue fever have put a lot of pressure on the medical system of Timor-Leste. Since February, Timor-Leste has experienced community transmission of Omicron variant, and the infection cases has increased rapidly. Although the situation is improving, we still cannot take it lightly. For Omicron and its sub-variants is highly infectious and spread very fast, and the epidemic situation in neighboring countries is not optimistic. The spread of dengue fever this year is much more serious than in previous years, which has put a lot of pressure on the medical resources of Timor-Leste. In order to help Timor-Leste fight the epidemic and improve medical conditions, the Chinese government decided to provide Timor-Leste with this batch of anti-epidemic and medical supplies.
China always treats Timor-Leste as a friendly neighbour, and always supports Timor-Leste in fighting the epidemic and is committed to helping Timor-Leste improve its medical conditions. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, China and Timor-Leste have always supported and cared each other. China was the first country to respond to Timor-Leste's request and the first country to send chartered flight to deliver medical supplies. Up to now, China has donated 15 batches of medical supplies to Timor-Leste. In June last year, China urgently provided 100 thousand doses of Sinovac vaccine to Timor-Leste when it was in urgent need of vaccines, which were welcomed by Timorese people. In January this year, the China Embassy also donated a batch of mosquito nets to the local community. In addition, the 9th medical team sent by China has recently started work in the National Hospital of Timor-Leste.
This batch of supplies includes 100 thousand doses of Sinovac vaccine, which brings the total number of vaccines from China to 200 thousand. This batch of vaccines will be mainly used for boosters and to continue to expand vaccinated population in Timor-Leste. Sinovac vaccines has been approved by WHO for emergency use. Compared with other vaccines, Sinovac vaccines have the following advantages: First, as an traditional inactivated vaccine, it is more reliable in safety than other new types of vaccines, without risking a serious disease response. In China, inactivated vaccines have long been widely used in minors under the age of 18.The second is that it can be stored in a standard refrigerator at 2-8 degrees Celsius, at least for two years, it has a much longer validity period than other brands of vaccines. Third, it has been approved effective, especially in the prevention of severe cases, hospitalization rates and deaths. It can effectively relieve the serious symptoms caused by the current Omicron virus. H.E. Prime Minister Ruak recently called for continued expansion of vaccination. I propose Ministry of Health to distribute this batch of Sinovac vaccines to all vaccination clinics to provide more vaccine options for Timorese people. I also call on the overseas Chinese to get their boosters actively .
In May last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to build a global community of health for all at the Global Health Summit, and called upon that vaccines should be made a global public good. China's donation of anti-epidemic and medical supplies to Timor-Leste is a practice of President Xi Jinping's proposal. China has always believed that facing to the pandemic, no single country can address the challenges by its own, and no single country can stay immune on its own. We must unite and fight the epidemic together.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Timor-Leste. Looking forward, China is willing to take this opportunity to deepen the health cooperation and jointly build a global community of health for all with Timor-Leste, to help Timor-Leste completely defeat the epidemic at an early date. China expects the two sides to strengthen cooperation in various fields, jointly build the "Belt and Road" with high quality, and help Timor-Leste recover its economy as soon as possible.
"Hamutuk Ita Bele!". Let us work towards it together.
thank you all.