China extends further help for Sri Lanka to control spread of COVID-19

China has further extended its support to Sri Lanka to control the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka Hu Wei met with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Friday and conducted in-depth communication on the previous telephone call between the foreign ministers of the two countries and the joint efforts of China and Sri Lanka to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gunawardena said: “I just had a very friendly and fruitful conversation with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The Sri Lankan government sincerely admires the efforts and contributions made by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government in fighting the pandemic in China and the world. We firmly support the World Health Organization in continuing to play an important role in combating the virus. The friendship between Sri Lanka and China has a long history and stood the test of time or trouble. We sincerely appreciate the experience sharing and medical supplies donation provided by the Chinese Government, enterprises and individuals to Sri Lanka in fighting the epidemic. Sri Lanka expects to continue to receive valuable support from China in the next stage of epidemic prevention and control, as well as the economic recovery.”

Hu said that the current global pandemic situation is grim, and the foreign ministers of the two countries have made this call very timely, which is of great significance to the next stage of cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. China highly appreciates the resolute and decisive measures taken by the Sri Lankan government to prevent and control the epidemic, and firmly supports Sri Lanka in fighting the COVID-19. 

According to incomplete statistics, since the outbreak of the local epidemic in Sri Lanka till to date, the Chinese Government, enterprises and individuals have donated 42,024 test kits, 958,730 surgical masks, 139,280 KN95 masks, 14,380 PPE gowns and other medical materials to Sri Lanka. 

In addition, China has repeatedly shared relevant experience with Sri Lankan health authorities. In the next stage, the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka will continue to vigorously enhance our cooperation in fighting the pandemic and developing the economies between China and Sri Lanka, in accordance with the important consensus reached by the foreign ministers of the two countries.

Before the meeting ended, Hu handed over a summary list of Chinese donation to Gunawardena and presented the newly-published ‘Report: China’s fight against COVID-19’ together with aids from the Embassy to the Foreign Ministry.