PM Hasina for boosting intl cooperation amid pandemic

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has called for boosting international cooperation to fight novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as she wrote a letter to Chinese president Xi Jinping, thanking Beijing for supplying medical equipment to Bangladesh to contain the lethal virus.

PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim on Thursday said the prime minister, in the letter, called for enhancing international cooperation to combat the fatal disease and urged president Xi to play a major role in mobilising the global leaderships to address this unprecedented challenge.

Sheikh Hasina thanked the Chinese government for providing medical supplies to Bangladesh and helping better prepare to cope with the epidemic.

She also extended her gratitude to president Xi, and the people and the government of China for providing large amounts of testing kits, masks, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and infrared thermometers to Bangladesh.

The prime minister also appreciated Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation for contributing hundreds of thousands of masks and testing reagents.

Sheikh Hasina expressed her firm conviction that the people and the government of China will stand by the people of Bangladesh during this global crisis.

“The Chinese support will go a long way in detection of cases and as well as protection of our medical professionals,” she hoped.

Praising China’s prompt reactions in the face of COVID-19 outbreak and its success in containing the virus, the prime minister said that China has set an example to the whole world. Bangladesh is taking cue from the Chinese experience, she added in the letter.