Turkish FM: Chinese COVID-19 vaccines safe and effective

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China and Turkey should solemnly commemorate their 50 years of diplomatic ties, deepen political mutual trust and cooperation, and push their relations to a higher level.

Wang made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

During the call, Chavushoglu congratulated China on successfully containing the COVID-19 epidemic, and praised the country's achievements in vaccine research and development.

Turkey, which has announced an urgent procurement of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines, believes that China's vaccines are safe and effective, and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in this regard, Chavushoglu said, Xinhua reported.

Wang, for his part, said that since the beginning of the year, China and Turkey have worked closely in the provision of medical supplies, sharing experiences in combatting the virus, and on the third phase of clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca earlier said Turkey targets to buy and bring 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and have 50 million residents out of the 83 million population inoculated by the summer.