Bangladesh to ink deal with Sinopharm: Momen

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh is going to sign an agreement with China's Sinofarm for joint production of the coronavirus vaccine in addition to the trade agreement.

The minister disclosed the matter while speaking to the journalists at the state guest house Padma on Monday afternoon. Before that, Chinese ambassador Li Jiming paid a courtesy call on the foreign minister.

Momen said, "We have received seven million vaccines in a month since we started buying Sinopharm vaccines from China. More will come this month. Sinopharm has promised to provide us with the vaccines on a regular basis. There is a huge demand for their vaccines."

"For this, they asked us to provide the exact number of additional vaccines we need in advance. We have already provided that," he added.

Referring to the joint production of the Sinopharm vaccine with different countries, the foreign minister said, “Sinopharm is going to jointly produce their vaccines with Turkey from August. After the meeting with me, the Chinese ambassador has sent a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) on joint production to their health ministry. It may take two months to start production after the agreement is signed.”