South Korea Donates 2 Million Masks to 28 African Countries

Addia Abeba (ENA) july 24/2020 South Korea's Ambassador to Ethiopia has reportedly handed over 2 million masks to Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to be distribute to African countries. 

According to a press release of the Korea Embassy, Africa CDC will distribute the masks to 28 Sub-Saharan countries that have requested assistance from South Korea.

The handing over ceremony took place at Bole International Airport yesterday.

Korea's Ambassador to Ethiopia, Hoonmin Lim commended the role AU has been playing in tackling COVID-19 by leading systematic and coordinated pan-African policies and underlined that the Korean government fully recognizes the importance of active support to AU’s related activities.

He added that the Korean government will continue to support Africa’s efforts to implement the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19.

Noting that strengthening the capacity of  Africa CDC is important in responding to the pandemic in the continent, Ambassador Lim added that the Korean government has designated  Africa CDC as the priority partner in health cooperation provided a total 9 million US dollars worth assistance in-kind and finance.

According to the press release, in addition to designating Africa CDC as the key priority partner for Africa, the Korean government has designated Ethiopia as the key partner country and promoted a systematic and strategic cooperation to strengthen diagnostic capabilities of Ethiopia.

As Ethiopia is one of the countries that dispatched troops during Korean War and the priority cooperation country, the Korean government is implementing comprehensive support worth 7 million US dollars to Ethiopia, including provision of medical supplies, facilities construction, and capacity building support, it added.

The Export-import Bank of Korea is going to provide Ethiopia with additional 70 million US dollars to help Ethiopia fight COVID-19 and secure medical equipment.

The press release pointed out that Korean companies and NGOs voluntarily and actively participated in the Korean government’s decisions regarding humanitarian assistance, which shows Korea’s willingness to cooperate with Ethiopia in overcoming the COVID-19 crisis.