DUSHABNE, April 14. /TASS/. The European Union plans to allocate a sum of 48 million euro to Tajikistan to help it cope with the novel coronavirus pandemic ramifications, Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday following Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin’s meeting with the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Tajikistan, Ambassador Marilyn Josefson.
"During the meeting, the parties discussed current issues and prospects for the development of multilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the European Union, including those of preventing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. In this regards, Ambassador Marilyn Josefson informed about the intention of the EU to provide 48 million euros to help Tajikistan to address the immediate needs and mitigate consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic," it said.
Apart from that, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade informed that at a meeting with Minister Zavki Zavkizoda, Josefson had pledged that the European Union would extend a 30-million-euro loan from the European Investment Bank to fund the implementation of the Tajikistan government’s anti-crisis plan. The money will go to such sectors as education, public health, border reinforcement, water supplies and sanitary facilities, as well as to avert economic and social impact of the pandemic.
According to the ministry, a sum of 1.3 million euro has been earmarked to buy protective gear for medical personnel and a sum of 780,000 euro — to purchase sanitary utensils for educational establishments.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,900,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 119,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 453,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.