Deputy Foreign Minister Tô Anh Dũng and Deputy Minister of Health Trần Văn Thuấn pose with Romania Ambassador to Việt Nam Cristina Romila when receiving 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca on Wednesday. VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam has received 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Romanian Government on Wednesday.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Tô Anh Dũng expressed sincere thanks to the Romanian Government and people for the valuable and timely support to Việt Nam.

He affirmed this was a noble gesture that proved the loyal friendship between the two countries, which has been cultivated by generations for more than 70 years.

Dũng highly appreciated Romania as the first European Union member to donate vaccines to Việt Nam, saying that it would make a practical contribution to the prevention of COVID-19 in Việt Nam.

He expressed his thanks to Romanian Ambassador Cristina Romila for playing an important role in mobilising the Romanian Government to donate vaccines to Việt Nam. He also asked the Romania Government to consider the possibility of ceding the surplus vaccines to Việt Nam.

Deputy Minister of Health Trần Văn Thuấn affirmed that the Ministry of Health would soon put this batch of vaccines into use in the most effective way.

Romania Ambassador Cristina Romila said that after the phone call between President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on July 14 as well as the letter from Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính to Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu on July 19, the Romanian Government decided to increase the donated number of vaccines to 300,000 doses, three times higher than the original plan.

She said the Romanian Government always remembered the valuable support of medical face masks and medical supplies from the Vietnamese Government and the Vietnamese community in Romania in their early stages of the pandemic.

Việt Nam was the first Asian country Romania donated COVID-19 vaccines to, she said.

She affirmed that Romania would continue supporting Việt Nam and firmly believed that Việt Nam would soon put the pandemic under control. VNS