India sending Covid-19 vaccines testimony of bonds of friendship, says Oman

Oman on Monday thanked India for sending coronavirus vaccines and said that the initiative is a "testimony of the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our governments and peoples".

"Heartfelt thanks to our close friends in India. We stand united against Covid-19 and this initiative is a testimony of the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our governments and peoples," Oman Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said in a tweet.

A consignment of India-made vaccines had reached Muscat on Saturday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that India providing vaccines to Oman is a friendship "spanning millennia."

"Made in India vaccines arrive in Muscat. Reflects a deep friendship, spanning millennia," the External Affairs Minister had said in a tweet.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said last week that India plans to gift vaccine doses to Oman, CARICOM countries, Nicaragua, Pacific Island states.

Srivastava said New Delhi plans to supply 1 crore vaccine doses to Africa and 10 lakh to United Nations health workers under GAVI's (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) COVAX facility.