At a time when the number of coronavirus cases in Bangladesh is rising, India handed over 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh. A chartered Air India plane, carrying the Covishield vaccine landed at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami handed over the vaccines formally to Momen at a formal function. “India had stood by Bangladesh during the (1971) Liberation War, and today, when the pandemic is rattling the world, India again came with gifts of vaccines,” Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said.
Health minister Zahid Maleque joined the function during which Momen termed the New Delhi initiative as a proof of true friendship between Bangladesh and India.
Vikram Doraiswami said as part of India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, the country has given priority to the India-Bangladesh relationship and the gift of 20 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine was in fact the biggest such dispatch by India to any of the neighbouring countries.
India has also handed over 1 million similar vaccines to Nepal, 150,000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Bhutan and 100,000 doses to the Maldives.
