A day before the 122nd anniversary of the Philippine Independence Day, President Rodrigo Duterte had a telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss their countries’ COVID-19 pandemic strategies and give his assurance that PH would be prioritized in the distribution of a vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) once it becomes available in China.
This call served as a celebration of 45 years of China-Philippines relations.
Malacañang said Duterte mentioned to Xi the need for cooperation in research trials for COVID-19 vaccine development and reiterated the importance of making the vaccine accessible and affordable to all countries, to Philippines most especially.
“President Duterte received President Xi’s full support on ensuring supply chain connectivity, particularly in critical medical supplies and equipment, promoting the free flow of goods and resuming and completing priority infrastructure cooperation projects in the Philippines,” Robert Borje, presidential assistant on foreign affairs and chief of presidential protocol, said.
