Japan will donate one million coronavirus vaccine doses to Vietnam, said Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio at a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi on June 15.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, right, and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio in Hanoi. Photo: BNG

At the meeting, Ambassador Yamada also announced that Japanese associations and 36 businesses in Vietnam have donated VND39.2 billion to the Vietnam Fund for Vaccination Prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019. They will contribute more to the fund.

In a message sent to the Vietnamese Government’s leader, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide emphasized that the donation is evidence of the deep friendship between Vietnam and Japan. Japan wishes to cooperate with the international community, especially Vietnam, to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Chinh, on behalf of the Vietnamese Government and people, expressed his sincere thanks to his Japanese counterpart Suga Yoshihide, the Japanese Government, and people for the donation to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is a precious and timely gift, showing sympathy and mutual sharing in times of difficulty, proving the friendship between the governments and people of the two countries,” Chinh said.

Chinh also thanked foreign associations and businesses in Vietnam, including Japanese businesses, for their meaningful contribution to support the Government and people of Vietnam in the Covid-19 prevention and control.

According to Kyodo News, the provision of the vaccine developed by Britain's AstraZeneca Plc and produced under license in Japan came in response to a request from Vietnam. It follows Japan's donation of 1.24 million shots to Taiwan earlier in the month.

“After considering comprehensively the infection situation (in Vietnam), the shortage of vaccines and relationship with Japan, we have come to that decision,” Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi at a press conference held in Tokyo on June 15.

Vietnam is well-known for its successful containment of the Covid-19 outbreak that has occurred in the country since early last year, however, it is facing coronavirus variants that combine characteristics of strains first detected in Britain and India.

Vietnam is one of the countries in Southeast Asia having the lowest rate of vaccinated people with 1.4% of the population injected.