On May 19, 2022, Chinese Ambassador Ma Xinmin, and Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Al-Sadiq and Federal Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim attended a handover ceremony held at the Friendship Hall for the medical supplies against COVID-19 donated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China to the Transitional Sovereign Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan. At the event presided over by Mr. Zhang Xianghua, Political Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Sudan, the two sides signed the handover certificate for the donation including one million surgical masks, 450,000 N95 masks, 180 oxygen concentrators, 180 non-invasive ventilators, and 13 dialysis machines.
Noting in his speech at the ceremony that the Friendship Hall is a symbol of long-standing friendly ties between China and Sudan, Ambassador Ma said it is therefore of special significance to hold the event here and this once again attests to the sincere and true friendship between the two peoples and also marks another new chapter of our joint response to COVID-19. Despite the grave challenge posed by the pandemic unseen in a century, our traditional friendship has grown even firmer in trying times, our medical cooperation has made more solid strides amid the pandemic, and our joint response to COVID-19 has forged ahead with stronger momentum, Ambassador Ma added.
He stressed that, as remarked by Chinese President Xi Jinping, in the face of COVID-19 pandemic, solidarity and cooperation is the most potent weapon for the international community, and China would continue to do whatever it can to support Africa’s response to COVID-19. He pointed out, China was the first country to dispatch a medical expert team to assist Sudan with epidemic prevention and control, and also the first to provide vaccine aid for Sudan via bilateral channels. The 23 batches of vaccines and medical supplies China has so far donated to Sudan are a strong material support for its fight to contain the virus. Today’s donation of 4.55 million yuan worth of medical supplies against COVID-19 is the latest move to implement the ideas and initiatives announced by President Xi Jinping for this purpose. China will work actively to deliver as early as possible the next round of vaccine aid to Sudan, so as to help it secure an early, final victory over the disease.
Sadiq expressed deep gratitude to the Chinese government for its continual assistance with Sudan’s response to COVID-19, saying that Sudanese people felt proud of the ties with China as a good friend. The fruitful results in bilateral cooperation in economic, trade, health and educational sectors have won popular support from the people. The donation, a new milestone in our joint response to COVID-19, demonstrates once again the value of Sudan-China relations and will be helpful for Sudan to improve the capabilities for public health governance, he noted, adding that Sudan will make best use of China’s assistance for the benefit of its people and look forward to closer cooperation with China on epidemic prevention and control and other areas, thus adding more substance to bilateral relations.
For his part, Haitham praised the role of the Chinese medical assistance team to Sudan, saying that their endeavors to treat and save patients in Omdurman, Abu Ushar and Damazin over the past 50 years and more have gained great respect and support from the public. After the coronavirus spread into Sudan, China has always been there to offer Sudan firm support. Noting that China was the first country to send a medical expert team to help Sudan with COVID-19 response, he said the good practices regarding epidemic prevention and control shared by experts from China are still used as a good reference amidst Sudan’s ongoing fight against COVID-19. China was also the first country to give Sudan vaccine aid via bilateral channels, he pointed out, saying that all these have provided a firm guarantee for the health and safety of Sudanese people. Sudan is willing to continue to deepen its medical and health cooperation with China, in a bid to prevail over the disease at an early date, he pledged.
After the end of the handover ceremony, Ambassador Ma had an interview with Sudan News Agency and Blue Nile TV. Sudan’s mainstream media, including National TV, Khartoum TV and Brown Land newspaper, as well as the Sudan-based offices of China’s state media including People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency and CCTV, gave live coverage of the event.
