Croatia, Hungary help Vietnam battle COVID-19

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (Photo: AFP/VNA)

At the handover ceremony, Croatian Ambassador to Hungary Mladen Andrlić affirmed that Croatia always treasures the traditional friendship with Vietnam and hopes to help the Southeast Asian nation to surmount the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambassador Thao extended her thanks to the Croatian government and people for their support, underlining that the assistance serves as proof of the countries’ time-honored friendship.

Earlier, the Vietnamese diplomat received a token of 400,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that the Hungarian Government transfer to Vietnam under a non-profit mechanism.

At the event, Deputy State Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary István Joó underlined that Hungary stands ready to assist Vietnam, an important partner of the European country in Asia.

In September, Hungary presented Vietnam with 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and 100,000 antigen test kits.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is set to send aircraft to bring the vaccine batch home on October 13, along with 12.5 tonnes of medical supplies worth 380,000 USD donated by Vietnamese-Hungarian entrepreneur Vu Quy Duong, who is also head of the Vietnamese Association in Hungary.

The association has launched a campaign to support the COVID-19 fight at home since August and raised 850 million VND (37,360 USD) to help frontline workers and pandemic-hit people in HCM City and Binh Duong./.

VNA