China to send new batch of vaccines to help Gabon battle COVID-19: FM

BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China is planning to dispatch another batch of COVID-19 vaccines to Gabon to help the African country defeat the pandemic as soon as possible, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday.

In a telephone conversation with Gabonese Foreign Minister Pacome Moubelet-Boubeya, Wang said that since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has offered strong support for Gabon to fight against the pandemic, sent multiple batches of medical supplies and shared its anti-pandemic experience with the country.

China thanked the Gabonese side for including Chinese citizens in Gabon in its vaccine inoculation programs, and will vaccinate Gabonese nationals in China, Wang said.

Wang noted that Tuesday marks the 47th anniversary of the establishment of China-Gabon diplomatic relations. Over the past 47 years, Wang said, traditional friendship between the two countries continue to deepen as they treat each other as equals with sincerity and friendship and remain committed to win-win cooperation and common development.

China thanked the Gabonese side for offering strong support on issues concerning China's core interests and will always view Gabon as a trustworthy cooperation partner, Wang said, adding that his country firmly supports Gabon in pursing a development path that suits its national conditions.

China is willing to strengthen coordination with Gabon on multilateral occasions to earnestly safeguard the common interests of China and Gabon, China and Africa, as well as developing countries and uphold international equity and justice, Wang said.

China is also willing to seek greater complementarity with Gabon within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), fully implement the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit and the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19, and make contribution to the opening of a new session of the FOCAC later this year, Wang added.

For his part, Moubelet-Boubeya congratulated China on its decisive victory against COVID-19 and thanked China for offering supplies and vaccine assistance to Gabon.

Moubelet-Boubeya also voiced warm congratulations on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 47th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, saying China's success is encouraging all developing countries and shows that poverty is not the destiny of underdeveloped countries.

China's development experience is well worth learning, Moubelet-Boubeya said.

Stressing that Gabon highly values its ties with China, Moubelet-Boubeya noted that his country firmly supports China's efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests and will make every effort to push forward Gabon-China relations and Africa-China relations to new levels.