Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Indonesia, home to approximately 300 million, is among the first to benefit from the ongoing UAE-China Phase III anti-COVID-19 candidate vaccine clinical trial in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Indonesia Investment Promotion Center (Abu Dhabi) director Iwan Ungsi told Gulf Today “the commitment of 10 million doses of inactivated vaccine for Indonesia” by clinical trial partners Abu Dhabi-based G42 Healthcare and Sinopharm of the government-owned China National Biotec Group was made possible through the official visit of a delegation led by Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsuda and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erich Thohir, last weekend.

Thohir is Jakarta’s concurrent COVID-19 Response and National Economic Recovery Committee executive chairman and among the “purpose of the visit was that he and Marsudi were specifically tasked by President Joko Widodo to discuss cooperation in COVID-19 Mitigation in the form of vaccine and laser kit diagnostic tool development aside from following up on the deals and agreements reached at the Indonesian President Visit to Abu Dhabi in January 2020, and the promotion of the values of tolerance and moderation.”

On Saturday, two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed and sealed. On Tuesday morning, Ungsi shared with this reporter the Aug. 22 tweet of Marsudi: “Witnessed the exchange of MoU between Kimia Farma and G42 on Vaccine Cooperation and MoU between IndoFarma and G42 on Healthcare Collaboration.”

“G42 and Sinopharm confirmed their commitment to provide 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for 2020,” was another Marsudi tweet.

This was followed by “Cooperation with G42 will continue to expand in the future, to include among others co-development/co-production as well as research and development.”

On the specifics of the MoUs, the “G42 Healthcare Al Holding RSC Ltd and PT IndoFarma Tbk on Healthcare Collaboration (are going to) conduct research, development, manufacturing, and distribution of laser-based technology for SARS-CoV2 virus screening.”

The “PT Kimia Farma Tbk and G42 Healthcare Al Holding RSC Ltd MoU ranges from “pharmaceutical products; healthcare services; vaccine research, development and clinical trials; vaccine production; and marketing and distribution of vaccine products.”

On the weekend official visit, Marsudi and Thohir met with UAE Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and UAE Energy and Infrastructure Minister Suhail Mohamed Faraj AlMazrouei.