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Poland to coordinate EU supplies of COVID-19 jabs to Eastern Europe

13.12.2021 13:30
Poland on Monday signed a two-year agreement to coordinate the European Union’s EUR 35 million vaccination drive for the six countries of the Eastern Partnership. 
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  • Poland to coordinate EU supplies of COVID-19 jabs to Eastern Europe
Poland on Monday agreed to coordinate the European Unions EUR 35 million vaccination drive for Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus.
Poland on Monday agreed to coordinate the European Union’s EUR 35 million vaccination drive for Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus.PAP/Marcin Obara

The six recipient states are Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

The agreement was signed in Brussels by Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, the EU’s Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, and Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, who heads Poland’s national development bank BGK.

Rau said that the vaccination campaign was "another example of solidarity with the Eastern Partnership region" and its launch represented "an important day of European solidarity."

Initiated by Poland’s Permanent Representation to the EU, the two-year EUR 35 million drive was approved two days before the Eastern Partnership’s summit in Brussels.

The EU’s eastern neighbours are set to receive the vaccines free of charge, with Warsaw tasked with gauging demand and informing EU capitals about the vaccination needs of the recipient states. 

The European Commission will subsequently settle the financial side of the drive with the bloc’s member countries, the IAR news agency reported.

Launched in 2009 as an initiative by Poland and Sweden, the Eastern Partnership is a platform that brings together the EU and its six post-Soviet, Eastern European neighbours.  

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR