Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (right) receives Polish Ambassador Wojciech Gerwel at the Government Palace on Tuesday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Poland decided to transfer 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine out of its surplas inventory and donates more than 501,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Việt Nam, immediately after receiving a letter from Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asking for help.

Poland will also donate medical equipment and supplies worth US$4 million, to be delivered to HCM City on August 25.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister thanked the Polish Government for the decision when he received Polish Ambassador Wojciech Gerwel at the Government Palace on Tuesday, stressing that Poland was the first country to cede such a large quantity of vaccines to Việt Nam, showing the country’s long-standing traditional friendship and sincere and close affection for the Vietnamese people.

The Prime Minister shared Poland's difficulties and losses in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. With a population of nearly 40 million, Poland has had more than 3 million infected cases and 75,000 deaths.

Gerwel reaffirmed Việt Nam is Poland's priority partner in the region, the first non-European country to which Poland donates vaccines and medical equipment. The Ambassador highly appreciated Việt Nam's epidemic prevention and control efforts in the past, believing that Việt Nam will win the epidemic.

Regarding bilateral relations, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính wished to promote the traditional relationship between the two countries, expressing his satisfaction at the positive developments in the past years. Poland for many years has always been Việt Nam's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Although affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, two-way trade turnover in the first seven months of 2021 reached US$1.5 billion, up 34 per cent over the same period last year.

The Prime Minister suggested that in the coming time, the two sides should strengthen contact between senior leaders, ministries and local agencies, creating favourable conditions for the export of Vietnamese products such as agricultural products, seasonal fruits and seafood to the Polish market; strengthen measures to promote more effective cooperation in the fields of investment, ODA development cooperation, defence, e-commerce, information technology, education-training, and culture such as music, fine arts, relics restoration.

On this occasion, the Vietnamese leader thanked and expressed his wish that the Polish Government continue to support the Vietnamese community in Poland to stabilize their lives, especially in difficult times due to the epidemic.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and the Polish Ambassador also discussed strengthening cooperation between the two countries at multilateral and regional forums, including on the East Sea issue, emphasizing the importance of ensuring security, safety, freedom of navigation and overflight as well as the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, on the basis of international law, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính cordially invited the Polish Prime Minister to visit Việt Nam. The Polish Ambassador also conveyed the invitation by the President and Prime Minister of Poland to their Vietnamese counterparts to visit Poland at an appropriate time. — VNS