Saudi Arabia Sends 600,000 Vaccine Doses to Tunisia

 Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Saqr, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Tunisia, at the Carthage airport on Wednesday to receive the vaccine doses sent by the Kingdom to Tunisia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Saqr, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Tunisia, at the Carthage airport on Wednesday to receive the vaccine doses sent by the Kingdom to Tunisia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Sends 600,000 Vaccine Doses to Tunisia

 Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Saqr, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Tunisia, at the Carthage airport on Wednesday to receive the vaccine doses sent by the Kingdom to Tunisia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Saqr, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Tunisia, at the Carthage airport on Wednesday to receive the vaccine doses sent by the Kingdom to Tunisia (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Tunisia on Wednesday received 600,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by Saudi Arabia, which came upon the directions of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The Saudi Embassy in Tunisia announced the arrival of 600,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

A statement carried by the Tunisian news agency TAP said the North Africa country received the doses at Tunis-Carthage airport on Wednesday.

It added that the Presidency extended thanks and appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this "support and solidarity that foster the ties of brotherhood between the two countries."

Meanwhile, the Saudi embassy said the health support for Tunisia will continue over the next few days to contribute to meeting the needs of the Tunisian health sector.

Last week, King Salman has directed the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) to urgently support Tunisia with needed medical supplies to contribute to meeting the needs of the Tunisian health sector to overcome the effects of COVID-19.

Advisor at the Royal Court and KSrelief General Supervisor Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah said in a press statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) that this additional aid includes 3,000 oxygen cylinders, five oxygen generators for five Tunisian hospitals, containers to transport 200 tons of liquid oxygen, and special oxygen support supplies, pointing out that KSrelief started securing and transporting the first batch of this aid.



Taiwan’s Representative to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Taiwan’s Representative to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Taiwan is investigating who is responsible for modifying the pagers that were turned into explosives in the hands of the Lebanese people, including members of Hezbollah.

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang told Asharq Al-Awsat that 260,000 pagers were exported from his country between 2022 and 2024, and 16 percent of them were sent to the United States and Europe.

He expressed his regret that the pagers were planted with explosives that were used in the attack in Lebanon last month, clarifying that the devices were not directly exported from Taiwan to Lebanon.

He explained that the components of the device are made of material that is not liable to explode.

Apollo Gold, the Taiwanese company that exported the pagers between 2022 and 2024, has never received any complaints that its devices have caused harm or exploded.

The attack in Lebanon has raised several questions and they are being probed by authorities in Taiwan, he went on to say.

One thing is for certain, the devices were not harmful in the shape they were exported from the country, stressed Chang.

Asked about whether the attack may harm Taiwan’s economy, he replied that his country’s industry sector has a strong reputation that will be difficult to undermine given the trust it has from clients.

The size of the sector and Taiwan’s investments cannot be measured by a small number of pagers, as they only make up a mere fraction in the country’s trade relations with countries all over the world, he stressed.

Separately, Chang revealed that Taiwan was considering cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the chip industry, saying he was optimistic over the broad potential for cooperation in the technology sector.

There are no limits to the cooperation between them, he added.

Taiwan constantly wants to maintain the relations and discuss opportunities for joint investments, he stated.

Taiwan was among the first countries to leap to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in all fields to help the Kingdom achieve its Vision 2030 that is spearheaded by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Chang said.