At the handing over ceremony this morning, representatives from the Vietnam - Oman Investment Fund (VOI) and the Aikya Pharmaceutical Group presented the face masks to Omani Ambassador Saleh Mohamed Ahmed al Suqri.
Accordingly, the first package of medical supplies which will be transported to Oman include 100,800 Mebiphar medical masks meeting European standards and produced by Aikya.
Speaking at the ceremony, Nguyen Xuan Giao, VOI Investment Director, said that this is a gift from the Vietnamese people to their Omani peers, aiming to share the difficulties with the Middle Eastern country amid the complex development of the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe.
Affirming that the Vietnamese business community and people will always support Oman in the fight against COVID-19, Giao also expressed his wish that this medical support package would help the Omani people soon overcome the epidemic.
Packages of face masks presented at the ceremony to support Oman in fighting COVID-19
Omani Ambassador Saleh Mohamed Ahmed al Suqri expressed his appreciation for the support package, saying that it is a meaningful and practical present, a harmonious message for the Omani people sent by the people of Vietnam as a whole, and by VOI and Aikya in particular.
“This aid from the friendly Vietnamese people to the Omani people has many meanings, as a true friend is the one who stands beside you in difficult circumstances, and this kind gesture of the Vietnamese people is highly appreciated by leadership and people of Oman,” the diplomat said. He also praised the accomplishments of the Vietnamese government and people in preventing the spread of the disease.
As a joint venture between the State General Reserve Fund of Oman (SGRF) and the State Capital Investment Corporation of Vietnam (SCIC), VOI was established in 2008 and has disbursed more than US$250 million in the Vietnamese economy over more than 10 years, focusing on essential sectors such as hi-tech agriculture, toll roads, water treatment plants, renewable energy, pharmaceutical and healthcare, education and so on. VOI has cooperated with the Aikya Pharmaceutical Group to take an active part in providing protective gear and hundreds of thousands of medical masks directly to doctors, nurses and other forces in the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 since its early days in Vietnam.
According to the latest update on the COVID-19 pandemic in Oman, as of May 14, there were over 4,000 confirmed cases – most of whom (70%) are foreign expatriates residing in Oman, with 1,280 recoveries and 13 deaths.
