PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked the Chinese leaders to consider establishing Covid-19 vaccine factory in Cambodia. The Prime Minister was speaking on Wednesday morning during the handover ceremony of the two million doses of Sinovac vaccine from China. The Covid-19 vaccine was turned over to the Prime Minister by the Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has revealed that he had a talk with Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian about the continued supply of vaccines, reaching the initiative on vaccine production in Cambodia. The Prime Minister says that in doing so, Cambodia will not have a problem in securing vaccines against Covid-19 if it persists three to five years from now. He says no one knows when the pandemic will end. But for him, he was just thinking of the possibility that it may last longer. And he wants the Kingdom of Cambodia to produce its own vaccine in the country as well as supply to other countries.
The Prime Minister has compared the situation with Thailand. He says that Thailand is already producing Astrazeneca. For Cambodia, he wishes to produce either Sinopharm or Sinovac.
Prime Minister Hun Sen hopes that Chinese Ambassador Wang Wentian will send his request to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, as well as other relevant parties, as soon as possible to establish a vaccine factory in Cambodia.
In the beginning of the handover ceremony of the two million doses of Sinovac vaccine, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia, Wang Wentian, has affirmed on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of China that the Chinese government will not stop supplying Covid 19 vaccine for Cambodia if the Covid-19 crisis won’t end.
The Ambassador says China and Cambodia are like "hands and feet", good friends who know each other well. China has already provided a total of 36.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Cambodia. The 8.3 million were donations including the latest two million received by Cambodia, while 28.5 million doses were purchased by the government.
