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Rabat – Sinopharm CEO, Liu Jingzhen, expressed satisfaction with the Moroccan-Chinese project related to the manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
The CEO said on Monday that the project is of great importance for both Morocco and China, providing support for the countries’ campaign against COVID-19.
The CEO of the Chinese company gave his remarks virtually during the launch and signing ceremony of conventions related to Morocco’s project of manufacturing COVID-19 and other key vaccines in Morocco.
King Mohammed VI chaired the ceremony at the Royal Palace in Fez.
Jingzhen noted that the project will contribute to the prevention and control of the pandemic at the global level.
“This large-scale project will make it possible to strengthen the health resilience of the peoples of the kingdom and of Africa,” he said. The Sinopharm CEO mentioned that the project will also bring an important contribution to the consolidation of the Sino-Moroccan friendship.
Quoting words from Chinese President, Xi Jinping, on the Chinese-Morocco relations, Jinghzen said that his country expressed its willingness to “actively promote anti-covid vaccine R&D and production cooperation with Morocco.”
Mark Funk, the Managing Director of Swedish company Recipharm shared a positive overview regarding the project during the signing ceremony.
He said that the company in Morocco seeks to increase the possibilities of access to vaccination campaigns whether they are preventive, endemic, or pandemic.
“This pilot project will contribute to the creation of a Moroccan competence center for the manufacture of the vaccines of tomorrow according to the Public-Private Partnership model, as well as the creation of jobs in this promising sector and the development of the future expertise in the sector,” Funk said.
Under the project, Morocco seeks to manufacture five million doses of COVID-19 vaccines per month. The country will gradually increase its production capacity, a royal cabinet statement announced on Monday.
In 2020, Morocco signed two cooperation agreements with China’s National Biotec Group Company Limited (CNBG) on clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The agreement came after Morocco announced a decision to participate in various multicenter clinical trials to secure sufficient doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccines.
Sinopharm has been supplying Morocco with thousands of doses of vaccines throughout this year.
Morocco has been using Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines for its vaccination campaign, which has been running since January 28.
To date, Morocco vaccinated 10,119,393 people with the first dose of the vaccine.
The number of people who have received the second dose of vaccine has reached 9,181,595.
