Egypt, China's Sinovac Discuss Cooperation to Provide Vaccines to Africa

Health Minister Hala al-Zayed receives Vice President-Research & Development for Sinovac Biotech Gao Qiang (Health Ministry spokesman’s official Facebook page)
Health Minister Hala al-Zayed receives Vice President-Research & Development for Sinovac Biotech Gao Qiang (Health Ministry spokesman’s official Facebook page)
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Egypt, China's Sinovac Discuss Cooperation to Provide Vaccines to Africa

Health Minister Hala al-Zayed receives Vice President-Research & Development for Sinovac Biotech Gao Qiang (Health Ministry spokesman’s official Facebook page)
Health Minister Hala al-Zayed receives Vice President-Research & Development for Sinovac Biotech Gao Qiang (Health Ministry spokesman’s official Facebook page)

Egypt seeks to expand cooperation with China’s Sinovac to become the company’s main hub to export vaccines to African countries.

Health Minister Hala Zayed met Thursday with the Vice President-Research & Development for Sinovac Biotech, Gao Qiang, to discuss bolstering cooperation in the field of transferring vaccine manufacturing technology to Egypt.

Zayed said the Egyptian government was grateful for Sinovac’s support in containing the pandemic by providing vaccines and supplying it with raw materials to manufacture them locally.

Both sides discussed the practical steps needed for transferring the vaccine manufacturing technology to the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA), Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.

They discussed a plan to expand the horizons of cooperation in the field of vaccine development, he added.

They also reviewed the possibility of training VACSERA's teams on the vaccine manufacturing technology.



EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the group claimed attacks deep into Israel.  

The Israeli military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel during the day. Some of them were intercepted but others caused damage to houses in central Israel, according to AFP images.  

A day after the health ministry said Israeli strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon killed 84 people, state media reported two strikes on Sunday on the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel's military said it had attacked "headquarters" of the group "hidden within civilian structures" in south Beirut.

War between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in late September, nearly a year after the group began launching strikes in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following that group's October 7 attack on Israel.

The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.  

On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.  

Earlier this week, US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Lebanon that a truce deal was "within our grasp" and then headed to Israel for talks with officials there.  

In the Lebanese capital, Borrell held talks with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of ally Hezbollah.

"We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," Borrell said.  

"Lebanon is on the brink of collapse", he warned.  

Under Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces present in the southern border area.  

The resolution also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, and reiterated earlier calls for "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon."