Talking to the ambassador of Namibia and the chargé d’affaires of Botswana, Vietnamese Ambassador Hoang Van Loi said the face masks were donated by Vietnamese people in South Africa to help people in the countries that his embassy is in charge of to fight COVID-19.
Mentioning the pandemic situation in Vietnam, he said the Government views the COVID-19 combat as the most urgent task at present, and that Vietnam always gives the top priority to people’s health and lives.
He also shared Vietnam’s experiences in pandemic prevention and control and discussed the countries’ cooperation chances with the other diplomats.
Namibian Ambassador to South Africa Veiccoh K. Nghiwete appreciated the support, described it as a demonstration of the friendship, fraternity, and solidarity between the peoples of Vietnam and his country.
Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi (L) presents face masks to Chargé d’Affaires of Botswana Tiny Mothobi on August 13 (Photo: VNA)
For her part, Chargé d’Affaires of Botswana Tiny Mothobi also expressed thanks to the Vietnamese people, noting that the face masks will be sent to her homeland as soon as possible.
As of August 13, Botswana with a population of over 2.4 million recorded 136,758 cases of COVID-19, including 1,973 deaths. With nearly 2.6 million people, Namibia saw 122,097 infections, 3,262 of whom succumbed to the disease, data show.
Earlier, the Vietnamese embassy in South Africa also presented face masks to the representative agency of Eswatini and contacted those of Lesotho and Zimbabwe in order to give them with 50,000 masks each.
The embassy has also sent delegations to hand over face masks to schools in Pretoria, and plans to continue the mask presentation programme in other localities like Eastern Cape and Northern Cape provinces as suggested by the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation./.
